With a date set for when voters will decide whether to eliminate Missouri’s state income tax, Kansas City-area officials are left with questions on what the move would mean for local government operations.
Takeaways
- The bill’s vague guidelines have made it difficult for Kansas City-area officials to predict its exact impact. But they worry that it could hamper local budgets and the ability to provide services.
- Local governments would have limited options on which local tax rates they could adjust to comply with provisions in the bill that prevent a windfall of new revenue. With earnings taxes approved by voters and property taxes mostly going toward schools, it leaves local sales and use taxes as the likely targets.
- Officials also worry that cities close to the state lines could lose out on revenue as consumers and business owners cross over to other states for lower sales taxes.
Voters will decide on the Aug. 4 ballot whether to eliminate the state’s income tax by expanding sales taxes.
It will appear alongside other questions asking voters to reauthorize a sales tax for state parks and soil conservation, whether the Jackson County assessor should be an elected position and whether changes should be made to the initiative petition process that would make it harder to pass such items.
The income tax elimination bill, HJR 173, was a top priority for Republican lawmakers and Gov. Mike Kehoe this year…