Mysterious group pours $1.9M into Missouri’s income tax phase-out campaign
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Missouri Promise Inc. contributed $1.9 million to Missouri Promise PAC.
- Missouri Promise Inc. was incorporated in Delaware last November and authorized in.
- The Missouri Realtors PAC donated $1,900,001 to Missourians for Fair Taxation.
A mysterious nonprofit tied to Delaware last week poured $1.9 million into a campaign to replace Missouri’s income tax with expanded sales taxes, a high-dollar donation that’s drawn scrutiny about who is bankrolling a plan to overhaul the state’s tax structure.
Missouri Promise Inc., a nonprofit incorporated last year in Delaware, made the six-figure contribution to Missouri Promise PAC, the main campaign seeking to convince voters to approve the tax proposal, which will be called Amendment 5 on the Aug. 4 ballot.
Revelations about the contribution come ahead of a potentially historic primary election in which voters will decide whether to dramatically reshape how the state collects taxes. The measure, a key priority for Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, would hand lawmakers broad authority to raise sales taxes with the goal of reducing the income tax.
As Missourians gear up for the election, Missouri Promise PAC has released a slew of online advertisements promoting the measure. But the PAC’s covert funding means that voters have no way to determine which individuals or groups are contributing to the campaign.
“I’ll just be very frank, they’ve shielded their donors very well,” said Mark Jones, a spokesperson for the Missouri National Education Association, which opposes Amendment 5.
Jonathan Prouty, a spokesperson for Missouri Promise PAC, confirmed the contribution in a statement to The Star, but provided no additional information about the source of the funding.
Prouty said the PAC had not yet decided how to use the funds. The PAC’s treasurer is listed as prominent Republican attorney Marc Ellinger.
“The PAC accepts donations and makes expenditures,” Prouty said. “Those are reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission in accordance with state law. We hope the press will scrutinize our opponents to the same level as Missouri Promise PAC.”
Inside Missouri Promise Inc.
The Star noticed the high-dollar contribution from Missouri Promise Inc. on online campaign finance records and attempted to trace the funding source. The company was incorporated as a foreign nonprofit corporation in Delaware last November — just weeks before the start of the 2026 legislative session.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s Office authorized the company to do business in Missouri in February, shortly after Kehoe promoted his plan to eliminate the state income tax during his annual State of the State address in January.
“Its principal purpose is to promote the common good and general welfare,” the company wrote on its business filings with the state.
The company’s business filings list a man named Garrett M. Lott as its chairman, officer and registered agent. Its place of business is listed as a private mailbox in St. Louis. The filing also mentions Alex Melendez, who is described online as a political consultant with Clark Fork Group.
The source of the $1.9 million contribution stops there, providing a key example of how political groups that do not reveal their donors offer voters no way to track who is funding some of the state’s most high-profile decisions.
Dark money refers to “spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed,” according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign spending.
When asked whether she was concerned about the contribution, a spokesperson for Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican who has criticized dark money in politics, released a statement that said Missouri laws include strict confidentiality requirements for her office.
“The Attorney General is prohibited from revealing the identity of any entity or tax-exempt donor under investigation unless a final determination confirms a violation,” said spokesperson Colbey Stosberg, who said the unlawful disclosure of that information would be a violation of state law. “The Missouri Attorney General’s Office remains committed to upholding Missouri law and the integrity of our elections.”
A spokesperson for Kehoe, who leaned on lawmakers to pass the income tax plan, did not respond to a request for comment about the contribution.
Opponents counter contribution
Peverill Squire, a retired University of Missouri political scientist, said there have been numerous attempts to increase transparency in how money flows into state campaigns, but those efforts have largely languished.
“Campaign funds can get laundered to the extent that it is almost impossible to uncover the original entity that contributed the money, as appears to be the case here,” Squire said. “The donor clearly does not want to be seen pushing the measure, but wants to do what they can to see it get passed.”
Squire predicted that voters will see a flood of ads on both sides of the income tax overhaul debate this election cycle.
“What Missourians can anticipate is that over the next weeks they will be inundated with ads of various sorts supporting and opposing the proposal,” he said. “But even if they look closely to see the tagline on who is funding the ad, they may still have no idea who is really behind it.”
On Tuesday, Missouri Promise PAC released a video ad that depicted Missouri as a race car competing against other states to slash taxes on a NASCAR-style track. The video said it was paid for by Missouri Promise PAC and listed Ellinger as treasurer.
“Missouri is getting lapped!” the racetrack announcer says in the video.
“To take the lead, Missouri needs Amendment 5!” the other announcer says.
The questions surrounding the campaign’s funding come amid a heated debate over the income tax overhaul. Supporters of the plan, including Kehoe, argue that it would revitalize the state’s tax structure and drive more residents and businesses to Missouri.
However, the measure has divided some Republicans. A host of groups across the political spectrum — business organizations, Democrats, the Missouri Libertarian Party — have also lined up against the plan.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat and opponent of the tax overhaul, framed the mysterious $1.9 million contribution as an example of a loophole in the state’s campaign finance laws.
“When you can get away with not disclosing your donors to the tune of $1.9 million in order to hoodwink the Missouri public into raising their own sales taxes on everything, that should be of grave concern to voters,” Aune said.
An opposition campaign, called Missourians for Fair Taxation, has cast the proposal as an “Everything Tax” and argues the proposal would trick voters into raising other taxes.
In a direct response to the Missouri Promise contribution, the PAC for the Missouri Association of Realtors, which supports the state’s real estate industry and discloses its donors, on Tuesday contributed $1,900,001 to Missourians for Fair Taxation.
“This is our clear reply - and our donations come from the pockets of (realtors) who are on every Main Street, suburban circle and country road across Missouri,” Scott Charton, the opposition group’s spokesperson, said in a statement.
Opponents and supporters of the tax proposal are also due in court on Thursday in a case over whether the ballot question should be removed from the Aug. 4 ballot or, failing that, rewritten.
