Gov. Kehoe’s tax plan would hit regular Missourians at the cash register | Opinion

In his April 14 guest commentary in The Kansas City Star, Gov. Mike Kehoe writes: “We should trust the people.” Yet he reveals a complete distrust of Missourians by trying to deceive them about his proposal to slash taxes on the wealthy and drastically shift the burden of funding state government to low- and middle-income taxpayers.

Nowhere does the governor mention the central feature of his plan, House Joint Resolution 173 and 174, is to nullify existing voter-approved prohibitions against levying sales taxes on services and real estate transactions and authorize lawmakers “to impose taxes on transactions involving any goods and services.”

Instead of calling this the massive sales tax hike that it is, the governor misleadingly claims it would “modernize our tax base.” There is nothing modern about imposing a record high — and regressive — sales tax hike on all goods and services Missourians purchase with their hard-earned money.

The governor also falsely says his plan would “let workers keep more of what they earn from the start.” However, an April 1 analysis by the nonpartisan Missouri Budget Project estimates that as many as 80% of Missourians would be smacked with a net increase in their overall state taxes. Only the top 20% — those least in need of tax relief — would enjoy any savings.

As he did mention, the governor’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the state’s individual income tax. But another important fact he conveniently omits is that the income tax provides about 60% of state general revenue. The only way to replace that much money is through the unprecedented expansion of sales taxes that the governor refuses to talk about.

However, it’s not even clear his tax replacement plan would work, since the latest official fiscal estimate for H.J.R. 173 & 174 says it could blow a $4.2 billion hole in the state budget in just the first year of implementation, with that cost rising to $8.5 billion by the third year. Such a huge revenue loss so quickly would leave Missouri government unable to function.

Yes, we should trust the people. But trust depends on honesty, which the governor has failed to demonstrate in his quest to tax everything Missourians buy. When they learn the truth, we trust the people will reject this scheme and all politicians who support it.

Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, represents part of Platte County in the Missouri House of Representatives and serves as House minority leader.