Middle-income Missourians could pay hundreds more each year while the state’s wealthiest households receive an average tax cut of nearly $40,000
Amendment 5, which Missouri voters will consider on August 4, would shift a greater share of state taxes onto middle-income families, seniors, and military households while delivering substantial tax cuts to the state’s richest residents, a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds.
Amendment 5 would authorize the elimination of Missouri’s individual income tax, which currently provides roughly 64 percent of the state’s general fund revenue, and authorize lawmakers to replace that revenue through higher or expanded sales taxes.
According to ITEP’s estimates:
- Under the proposal, middle-income households earning approximately $49,000 to $80,000 would pay an average of $535 more in state taxes each year.
- The richest 1 percent of Missourians, by contrast, would receive an average tax cut of nearly $40,000.
Seniors could be hit especially hard because Social Security benefits are already exempt from Missouri’s income tax. The analysis estimates that Missouri seniors would pay approximately $335 million more in taxes overall—an average increase of $365 per senior household. Some middle-income seniors and military households that currently owe little or no state income tax could see their taxes rise by approximately $1,600 a year.
“Amendment 5 asks Missouri voters to approve a tax shift without telling them which purchases will be taxed or how high sales taxes will rise,” said Eli Byerly-Duke, ITEP State Analyst and author of the new analysis. “What is clear is who would benefit: the wealthiest Missourians. Working families and seniors would be asked to make up the difference.”
