The Missouri state flag flies alongside the U.S. flag and the St. Louis city flag. | Photo: Tom Bastin / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 / Cropped from Original
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
A ballot measure in front of Missouri voters next month could give some Illinois residents in the Metro East area a reason to move across the Mississippi River if it passes.
The measure, which will be present on ballots in the state’s primary election Aug. 4, proposes an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that could phase out income tax entirely.
Andrew Wilford, director of state policy at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, explained the ballot measure would allow the state legislature to eliminate income tax by raising other revenue sources, such as an increase to sales tax.
“They haven’t officially created the structure for that, but that would be the general idea,” Wilford said. “Currently, Missouri has a top tax rate of about 4.7%. A few years ago that was relatively low for the region, but a lot of the state’s neighbors have cut taxes pretty significantly in the intervening years.”
Bryce Hill, senior director of fiscal and economic analysis for the Illinois Policy Institute, noted there’s a larger trend, and Missouri is following other states in reducing, flattening or eliminating income taxes.
“Many states did that – started this process after the COVID-19 pandemic, when state tax revenues didn’t decline as much as anticipated and then subsequently grew very rapidly,” Hill said. “Illinois did not have that luxury. A lot of that excess revenue went to pay for previous debts.”
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