The Missouri Primary is almost here, and on this year's ballot, two potential amendments will have major impacts on voting and taxes for Missouri residents.
Amendment Four
Amendment Four would change the voting system required to pass a constitutional amendment.
Currently, for an amendment to pass, it would just need a majority of the votes across the state. Amendment Four requires the amendment to pass in each of the eight voting districts in Missouri in order to go into effect.
The Cape Girardeau County Sample Ballot outlines three sections to this amendment: “Modify current requirements that a statewide majority of voters may approve initiative petitions to amend the constitution; Require a majority of voters in each congressional district to approve initiative petitions to amend the constitution; and Make available to each voter the full text of initiative petitions with their ballot.”
SEMO professor of political science Jeremy Walling said by passing this amendment, Republican lawmakers may be hoping to make the passing of progressive amendments more difficult.
“I think the idea is that we have had, if you look back, a run of amendments in Missouri, whether they're related to minimum wage or abortion, things like that, that tend to be thought of as being more progressive things that have passed in statewide elections, and then the legislature might come back in and chip away at what they want to do about that. And so I think that the idea behind this measure is to sort of again put a barrier up against those maybe more progressive ballot initiatives.”
The sample ballot states that the Department of Corrections estimates increased annual costs of up to $21,817 from this amendment. The Office of State Public Defender has an unknown fiscal impact, and Other state governmental entities and local governmental entities estimate no costs or savings from Amendment Four.
Amendment Five
Amendment Five, according to the sample ballot, would aim to phase out the individual state income tax, reduce constitutional limits on the taxation of goods and services, and require local tax rate cuts without the reduction of school funding if the local sales tax revenue increases.
Walling said the ballot measure would gradually fade out the income tax as certain targets are met; however, many of those targets have not been specified yet. And because Missouri doesn’t have an additional source of revenue to tax, eliminating the income tax could result in high sales or property taxes.
“Look at a handful of states that have done this, states like Texas or Florida. You know, in virtually every case, that state has another large source of revenue that they can tap into. So in Texas, it would be oil. In Florida, it would probably be tourism, so you know my question is always, well, what does Missouri have as an alternative to our income tax? Right now, our income tax makes up about 61% of the state's revenue,” Walling said.
According to the Texas Oil & Gas Association, the Texas oil and natural gas industry paid $27.0 billion in state and local taxes and state royalties, and according to the Office of the Governor of Florida, tourism in the state generated $133.6 billion in 2024.
Walling said that by eliminating the income tax, people who make less money and people on a fixed income would spend a disproportionate amount of their money compared to people in a higher tax bracket.
“So, if we're replacing a progressive tax, which is going to hit higher incomes at a higher rate, with a sales tax, which is going to hit everyone the same but disproportionately disadvantage, I think, younger people who have lower incomes,” Walling said. “You have part-time jobs and retired people, people that are on fixed incomes, people like my mom, people that have fixed incomes; they go buy groceries, and again, that even though everyone's paying a 10%, 11% or 12% tax. That's flat on everyone, but it's a larger percentage of my mom's money than it is of my money overall.”
According to the White House, of the nine states that don’t have an income tax, “five of them rank amongst the top 10 states in terms of GDP growth over the past decade and four of them rank amongst the top 10 states in terms of net migration rates from other states.”
Walling speculates the goal of eliminating the income tax would be to revitalize the economy and create incentives for more companies and businesses to move into Missouri; however, he believes that the state has not been specific enough with its goals.
“It's Field of Dreams, right? ‘If you build it, they will come.’ Well, again, if you have huge oil reserves and that's part of your economy, or you have Disney parks and the Harry Potter land to attract people to, then great. But I'm not sure that Missouri has that,” Walling said. “All we really have is our people, hardworking people, that go to work every day, like us. And I just think that what's going to have to happen, is sales tax and probably property tax are going to have to increase to make up that difference in revenue that is going to happen when the income tax goes away.”
Walling recommends that everyone educate themselves on ballot measures before voting. More info about the measures can be found on nonpartisan websites, like Ballotpedia.com.
In-person voting for the 2026 Missouri Primary is August 4th. Absentee Voting By-Mail or In Person with a lawful excuse began on June 23rd, and in-Person Early Voting (no-excuse absentee voting) began July 21st and runs through Monday, August 3rd.