State Tax Policy

Lawmakers are considering swapping out the income tax for a greatly expanded sales tax. The proposal would blow a $5 billion hole in the state budget, causing massive cuts to schools, particularly in rural areas.1 If resulting budget cuts are equally distributed across the Read More

Some Missouri lawmakers want to eliminate the state’s income tax and greatly expand sales taxes, pointing to states like Tennessee, Florida, & Texas as models. But those states have resources Missouri does not have, and except for the highest earners, taxpayers in those Read More

A proposal touted as an elimination of Missouri’s income tax is in reality the introduction of a two-step process that could swap the individual income tax for greatly expanded sales taxes. This switch would increase total taxes for up to 4 out of 5 Missourians and harm our Read More

Updated February 2026View previous version here Governor Kehoe recently announced that Missouri expects a $2 billion general revenue shortfall for fiscal year 2027 (the state budget year that begins July 1st). This shortfall is mostly the result of previously enacted state tax Read More

Submitted on Behalf of Amy Blouin, President & CEO of the Missouri Budget Project Swapping out the income tax for a greatly expanded sales tax is a lose-lose proposal for Missourians, our communities and our economy: – 60-80% of Missourians would see a net tax increase Read More

Missouri policymakers continue to propose the elimination of Missouri’s individual income tax. But evidence from states without income taxes shows that these states are only low tax for the highest earners. Instead, they rely heavily on sales & excise taxes that hit low and Read More

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2025Contact: Amy Blouin, Governor Signs $500 Million Tax Giveaway as State Faces Growing Budget Challenges   Statement from Missouri Budget Project CEO Amy Blouin Governor Kehoe is expected to sign House Bill 594 this afternoon, a tax bill that Read More

For Immediate Release: July 3, 2025Contact: Amy Blouin, Congress Passes Budget Reconciliation      Community leaders respond to passage of the budget reconciliation bill, which puts health coverage and food assistance for hundreds of thousands of Missourians on the chopping block Read More

A number of tax changes made over the last three decades have resulted in an inadequate, upside-down tax system where low- and middle-income Missourians pay a higher share of their income in taxes than the richest Missourians, and out-of-state corporations pay less than their Read More

For Immediate Release: January 28, 2025Contact: Traci Gleason MBP Response to Income Tax Proposal in State of State AddressStatement by Amy Blouin, President and CEO, Missouri Budget Project “Whether it happens over time or all at once, eliminating the state income tax wipes out Read More