Judge to hear lawsuit over Missouri income tax ballot question

By: Jazsmin Halliburton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) -- A Cole County judge is set to hear arguments Friday morning in a lawsuit against Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and multiple lawmakers over language used for the ballot question of eliminating state income tax.

Jill Owens from Kansas City, who is spearheading the lawsuit, claims that the ballot question violates a section of the Missouri Constitution because it amends multiple articles and “embraces more than one subject.

Friday's bench trial on the lawsuit is set to begin at 9 a.m. in the Cole County Courthouse with Judge Chris Limbaugh.

Owens is seeking for the state to either get rid of the question or rewrite the ballot language, which currently reads:

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

• Phase-out the individual income tax based on revenue growth;
• Reduce personal property and other local taxes when local revenues increase;
• Modify the sales and use tax to eliminate income tax and reduce local taxes; and
• Protect local funding for public schools and other purposes?”

The Secretary of State's office argues that eliminating Missouri's state income tax has been done by other states such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida. It also argues that Owens provides no evidence that eliminating the state income tax would "increase levy in taxes" or "a direct expenditure of funds generated through taxation," according to the state respondent's pretrial brief.

Last week, Gov. Mike Kehoe chose to put the measure on the August ballot instead of the November general election ballot.

The measure would phase out income tax and create the legal power to place taxes on more goods and services. It would also require local governments to reduce property taxes to offset tax increases.

Local governments have already started putting sales tax increases on ballots, in part in anticipation of the measure becoming law, if approved. Columbia and Boone County each plan to seek public safety sales taxes in August.