Missouri voters defeated Amendment 5, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have required reductions in the state individual income tax as net general revenue collections grow, with the goal of eliminating the tax by January 1, 2032. The measure failed, with approximately 83.3% opposed and 16.7% in favor. Roughly 1.4 million ballots were cast.
Under House Joint Resolution Nos. 173 & 174, each $20 million increase in prior-year net general revenue collections above an inflation-adjusted fiscal year 2025 baseline would have triggered a 0.01-percentage-point rate cut, up to 1.6 percentage points a year. If the revenue triggers had not reduced the rate to zero by 2032, the reductions would have continued until the tax was gone. Once the tax reached zero, Missouri could not have imposed a new one.
The amendment would also have authorized the General Assembly to expand state and local sales and use taxes to goods and services not taxable as of January 1, 2015. Beginning in 2029, local governments generally would have had to reduce certain sales, property, or earnings tax rates to offset added revenue from a base expansion. The measure prohibited reductions in public-school funding.
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