Jefferson City, MO — The Income Tax elimination bill was passed out of the Commerce committee by a vote of 7-3 along party lines, and it’s now headed to the Floor. Governor Kehoe introduced and discussed eliminating the income tax in his State of the State address the last two years. Kehoe said eliminating the income tax will make Missouri more competitive and build a stronger state economy. “Missourians work very hard, and they can spend their money better than any elected official,” said Kehoe. He launched the Missouri Promise website to promote his keystone legislation this year.
“Our members are encouraged the House Commerce Committee voted out co-sponsors Speaker Jon Patterson and Representative Bishop Davidson HJR 173-174 bills. It can now be taken up for debate and perfected on the House Floor before Spring Break,” said MO Tax Relief Now Founder and CEO Dennis Ganahl.
After the bill passes out of the House and Senate and is signed by Kehoe, the constitutional amendment will require a vote of the people to authorize state and local sales taxes on transactions involving goods and services thereby eliminating individual income tax over time, as revenue benchmarks are hit. All of the states touching Missouri except Illinois have pledged to eliminate their income taxes.
Speaker Jon Patterson said, “This is a great opportunity to stop taxing everyone’s income and modernize Missouri’s 100-year-old tax system. It’s an opportunity to do something really big and make Missouri competitive. It simply asks taxpayers, do you want to try something else to keep more money in your pocket.”
Representative Davidson said, “eliminating the income tax will be done responsibility. It lowers the income tax until it is finally eliminated.”
Some Missourians worry they’ll be paying more in taxes.
Representative Ben Keathley, 101, feels good about the bill. Keathley said, “Taxpayers will have all of the money they typically spend on income tax in their pockets. Overall, a person’s sales tax percentage won’t really increase because local sales tax rates will have to be rolled back so taxing authorities don’t collect too much in sales taxes.”
Ganahl said, “Supporters like the fact it’s going to stop increasing the state budget every time a person gets a raise. Supporters also like the fact their privacy won’t be at risk with data breaches. Nobody likes the state knowing their business. Let the people earning the money decide how to spend it.”
Ganahl started MO Tax Relief Now in 2007, and restarted it in 2022 to pass the senior property tax freeze. It is the volunteer grassroots group who worked to pass SB 190 the Senior Property Tax Freeze, which is now in 87 Missouri counties, and has over 300,000 homes owned by seniors with frozen property taxes. SB190 also exempted Social Security and public pensions from state income tax. Tax relief bills being supported by MO Tax Relief Now this session are the Zero Income Tax, reform for the property tax process to assure transparency and fairness, the Taxpayer Protection Act, and the REINS Act, which limits government and administrative regulations by unelected officials.
