Missouri Eagle Forum Tax Reform Alert #2 – Tax Filing Looms: Is it Time For a Change?
By Anne Schlafly, Chairman, Eagle Forum
Every spring, Americans brace themselves for the headaches of tax season. In Missouri, many families and small businesses spend countless hours and thousands of dollars navigating complex forms, hiring preparers, or buying software. This frustration reflects broader concerns about a system bogged down by overregulation, inefficiency, and wasted resources.
In the Missouri State Capitol, there are always hundreds of reasons to avoid bold action. We hear in committees every day about unintended consequences, over regulation, sweeping waste, fraud, and abuse that are swept under the rug and allow government to continue profligate spending.
Missourians do want efficient government. One way to cement actionable change that supports hard-working taxpayers in Missouri is to eliminate the income tax. Rolling back or eliminating the state income tax is happening in many other states. In the past five years, 23 states have lowered their income tax rates. Nine states now have no state income tax; could Missouri be the tenth? The conversation is no longer “if” Missouri needs change, but “how” we can responsibly pare back a bloated budget, protect children and vulnerable residents, and keep more money in your wallet so that our state can thrive.
Currently, a bill by House Speaker Jon Patterson has cleared the Missouri State House and is headed to the Senate. The key components of the bill are to eliminate the income tax and replace it with a sales tax. The devil, as Missouri Eagle Forum will continue to say, is in the details.
The way consumers shop has changed. If you purchase a physical book, you pay sales tax. If you download that same book online, then there is no sales tax. This year marks the first time that more commercial space is leased by services rather than retail stores that sell goods. The tangible goods have sales tax; the services have no sales tax. So Missouri is losing money because the economy is now much more service-based. A broader based tax in place of the onerous income tax would benefit all.
As you discuss tax reform at your kitchen table, consider: Will this new system be easier to understand? Is it fair for all Missourians? Research indicates that sales taxes can be regressive, impacting lower-income families more. That’s why the bill includes provisions to exempt essentials like groceries, prescription medications, and rent from the sales tax—helping ensure basic needs remain affordable. Unlike Missouri, many any other states do not allow sales tax on groceries, because it disproportionately affects lower-income people. But why should non-essential services be exempt from sales taxation? This measure aims to protect Missouri’s most vulnerable while making our state more competitive nationally and globally.
We know the current system is burdensome: Missouri residents spend hours each year filing state returns, wrestling with a complicated code that too often favors special interests. How can we make sure the new sales tax will help Missouri citizens instead of fat cat lobbyists? How will it affect children, families, seniors, and small businesses? Missouri Eagle Forum will host a series of public forums—open to everyone—to address these questions and we will be announcing our kick off soon. We need the citizens of Missouri to get involved and now! We can’t get this wrong for our children and grandchildren. We will keep you posted. Stay tuned!
Right now, ask your Representative and Senator to share with you how ending our current tax system will allow for greater freedom and transparency. Please call or email your legislators today. Tell them you want details of tax reform and how it will help our state while returning Missouri state government to what it ought to be doing: Helping to strengthen our most vulnerable and returning to its constitutional responsibilities — and not hand-outs to the lobbyists.
Missourians have become overly burdened as our state government takes more and more control over our lives. Freedom is not free. America is turning 250 years old. While this is a historic year for us, we are still a young nation. We have a chance, every one of us, right now, to stand up and make a difference for our children and grandchildren so that tax filing day is a day to mark freedom.
Contact your legislator by visiting http://www.house.mo.gov and entering your zip code to find their information. Your input is needed for a fair, simple, and transparent tax code.
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