Gov. Mike Kehoe’s State of the State address is sparking sharp debate at the Capitol.
Kehoe wants to eliminate Missouri’s income tax, saying it would leave more money in Missourians’ pockets.
But House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, calls that misleading, saying the governor is trying to deceive Missourians into thinking this is a tax cut.
“If you enjoy paying substantially higher taxes on just about everything you buy, then you’ll love ‘Tax Hike Mike’s’ plan,” said Aune.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, told Missourinet that people will still have to pay taxes, but if the system relied less on income tax, he believes Missouri could actually bring in more revenue.
“States that don’t have an income tax, people are moving there,” said Patterson. “And what happens when people move? Their revenues increase and the government actually has more revenue to work with. So that’s the goal.”
State Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, warned the plan would wipe out $9 billion in general revenue and said Missourians will pay more elsewhere.
“This will be an increase in sales tax,” said Fogle. “This will be an increase on taxation of services, which will raise the cost of living for most Missourians and I’m not in support of any tax proposal that increases cost of living for my constituents.”
State Sen. Kurtis Gregory, R-Marshall, told Missourinet that the income tax penalizes people for going to work.
“And that’s something I think we should try and get away from,” said Gregory. “The mechanics of making it work, sounds like we need to run a ballot initiative in November, and then we put the nuts and bolts of it, and that’s going to start with a broadening of the sales tax base.”
Under Kehoe’s plan, a broader sales tax could mean new taxes on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video—services that are not currently taxed.
Kehoe said taxing modern services like streaming platforms and e-books would generate new revenue for local governments, but says any increases could be offset by reducing property taxes—a top priority for Missourians.
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