If It's Too Good

I want to talk today about what you’re hearing in the commercials you’re seeing on the television for the upcoming elections in Missouri. Specifically, I want to talk about the ballot issues. When you go to vote, you will be asked for your party affiliation. That’s because the August election is for the political parties to vote on who their candidate will be on the ballot in the November election. In November, your ballot will allow you to choose which party’s candidate you prefer. Following the candidate selection section, you will be asked to vote for the Party Committee People for your district. These people are the party organizers for the county party committees.

If you prefer not to designate which party you align with, and you don’t care which candidates make it to the General Election, you can ask for an “Issues Only” ballot. This ballot will decide which constitutional amendments and municipal policies will (or will not) go into effect. Politicians often will put controversial issues on the August ballot, because historically, this tends to be a low voter turnout election, and unless there’s a strong opposition campaign, these measures tend to pass. On the Party ballots, the issues section follows the candidate selection section.

The first set of issues on the August 4 ballot will be ones at the State level. This election will have 4 ballot initiatives. This is how they are worded:

• Amendment 1 - continues 1/10th of a percent sales tax for soil and water conservation and for state parks and historic sites, and resubmit this tax to the voters for approval in 10 years.

  • It generates about $140 million annually, and is the only state revenue it receives, but allows for the Conservation Department to apply for matching Federal funds.

• Amendment 2 - would require all charter counties, including Jackson County, to

  provide for the election of a county assessor; and require assessors in all charter

  counties to comply with any training requirements established by general law.

  • There is no cost or savings associated with this amendment.

• Amendment 4 - would Modify current requirements that a statewide majority of voters may approve initiative petitions to amend the constitution; (It would instead)

  • 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.

• Amendment 5 - would require legislative phase-out of the individual state income tax based on revenue growth, and authorize the expansion of sales and use taxes; curtail constitutional limits on taxing goods and services; and require local tax rate cuts without reducing school funding if local sales tax sales tax revenue increases.

  • If implemented, state government entities expect a reduction of $57,000 annually in income tax check-off donations and implementation costs of at

    least $100,000

Missouri has two different processes to petition voters to approve ballot initiatives. Each of these amendment proposals got on the ballot through a Referendum Petition in which the State Legislature votes to bring them forward. Passage requires a simple statewide majority. Amendment 4 would not change the Referendum Petition process. An Initiative Petition gets on the ballot when citizens bring forward enough certified signatures of registered voters across the State. This occurred with marijuana legalization, expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage, repealing the abortion ban, and legalizing sports betting. None of these would have passed under the proposed change in Amendment 4, because it would take just one congressional district to defeat a statewide majority. Restricting access to the petition process and expanding sales and use taxes though would simply require a statewide simple majority because they came through the Referendum process.

Now let’s talk about Amendment 5. The key words there are “phase out” and “based on revenue growth” - meaning that once revenue grows to a predetermined level, income tax will be reduced. This will continue until the income tax is eliminated. How will revenue grow? Amendment 5 authorizes the legislature to tax other sales and uses - without a vote of the people. Amendment 5 basically repeals the Hancock Amendment which was also passed through the Initiative Petition process and prohibits the state from increasing or enacting taxes without a vote of the people.

Amendment 5 requires revenue growth before any income tax reduction, and it will allow future State Legislatures to enact taxes on sales, services, uses, or fees. The Missouri Realtors are heavily funding the opposition to Amendment 5 because of their concern that under Amendment 5, home sales and even rent payments could be taxed . And those added taxes might not generate enough revenue to reduce your income tax. Passage of Amendment 4 would make it nearly impossible for another Hancock Amendment to pass.

This is not an election to sit out. My best resource for voter information is the League of Women Voters. Their Vote411.org website has all the information you need to know how, when, where and what you need to register and vote. Please do not let them take away your voice.

Ingrid Burnett is a former Missouri State Representative for Legislative District 19 covering the Riverfront, Westside, Northeast, City Market, Columbus Park, East & West Bottoms and Quality Hill. Ingrid served 8 years fullfilling her term limit in 2024.

Ingrid is currently a candidate for the 4th in-district Kansas City City Council position. You can learn more about Ingrid and support her campaign through her website, https://www.ingridburnett.com/