Save on income tax, but spend, spend, spend in sales taxes? Kehoe plan risky | Opinion
Rigged swap
Well, folks, it’s official: Amendment 5 will be on the Aug. 4 ballot, and it is a classic bait-and-switch. It offers a quick income tax cut today but pushes the real bill onto Missouri families, farmers and local shops. (May 25, 1A, “Kehoe moves income tax, direct democracy votes to August”)
Eliminating the income tax would blow a massive $8.5 billion hole in our budget. To fill it, politicians would be forced to shift the entire burden onto families, slapping an “everything tax” on daily necessities, leading to much higher prices for groceries, prescriptions and child care.
As a small-business owner, I know what happens when living costs skyrocket. Customers tighten their belts and cut back. Worse, folks would just drive across state lines to avoid double-digit sales taxes, bleeding our Main Streets dry.
Missourians are already stretched thin by skyrocketing health care costs, post-pandemic housing spikes, inflation and $4 gas. We cannot build a stable economy by starving public schools and overtaxing basic needs for a political talking point. This rigged swap would squeeze every last penny from everyday folks to subsidize the ultra-wealthy, leaving small business owners holding the bag.
Vote no on Amendment 5.
- Lisa Foehner Boudreau, Kansas City
Wear orange
Red for the Chiefs, teal for the Current, purple for the Wildcats, gold for Mizzou and blue for the Royals, Sporting, Roos and Jayhawks — what’s your color? On June 5-7, Gun Violence Awareness Weekend, I’m wearing orange. I wear orange to honor the survivors and victims of gun violence. I invite you to join me.
Gun violence affects us all. There is no need to shoot off statistics. Turn on the news or open The Kansas City Star, and you see it every day. On June 5 and 6 when you see churches, hospitals, other buildings and maybe even Ferris wheels lit up orange, you will know we are all in this together.
I invite you to the Wear Orange Rally at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 6, at the Alvin Brooks Justice Center on the Rockhurst University campus.
- Nora Alexander, Overland Park
Strange times
The acting U.S. attorney general, who has been the president’s personal lawyer, recently issued two actions. One states that Donald Trump and all his family members are exempt from all future IRS audits. (This is contrary to IRS procedures for any president.) The second created a $1.776 billion compensation fund, with a five-member board controlled by Trump. This would enrich Jan. 6 rioters, who destroyed government property and attacked and injured law enforcement officers while trying to overturn the 2020 election
I recall in early 2025 when the Department of Government Efficiency caused havoc in many government agencies under the pretense that there was wide-scale fraud, waste and abuse. One year later, Trump champions fraud for his own family and associates.
Strange times. I hope our two states’ members of Congress do not become complicit in this corruption by their silence.
- Patrick Devine, Overland Park
Quick fix
The surest way to stop the ridiculous and wasteful spending on a White House ballroom is to have every Democratic member in Congress sign a declaration that the ballroom will be repurposed as a homeless shelter and food kitchen when their party next controls the executive office.
- Tim Connealy, Kansas City
Better measure
As a proud alumnus of MidAmerica Nazarene University, I know graduates who serve across Kansas City as pastors, teachers, nurses, counselors and nonprofit leaders. Most could have pursued higher-paying careers. Instead, they chose lives of purpose and service.
That’s why federal Gainful Employment or GE regulation, part of the Higher Education Act, matters — not only in Washington, but here at home. We support accountability and responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Students deserve clear information and strong outcomes.
But the current GE framework leans too heavily on one measure: earnings after graduation. That tells only part of the story.
Many of the professions that strengthen our communities will never produce six-figure salaries. Yet Kansas City desperately needs compassionate educators, caregivers, ministry leaders and nonprofit professionals.
The regulation itself acknowledges that higher education produces benefits beyond wages, including stronger communities and civic engagement. Education Secretary Linda McMahon should refine the GE rule so it protects students and taxpayers without discouraging purpose-driven careers that serve the common good.
- Pete Brumbaugh, Olathe