By Kurt Erickson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Kehoe headed south Wednesday for a trade mission to Central America carrying more political baggage than he may have expected after his signature priority for the year went down in flames.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have triggered the phase-out of the state’s income tax by giving lawmakers the ability to raise sales and services taxes.
As returns rolled in Tuesday night, Kehoe tried to put a positive spin on the outcome that saw only 1 in 5 voters support his plan, saying his work to make Missouri more competitive with other states is not over.
“I remain committed to working with the General Assembly in the years ahead on ways to continue cutting taxes, growing our state’s economy, and pursuing conservative policies that help Missouri families keep more of what they earn,” the Republican governor said before departing for a four-day trip to Panama.
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The solid rebuke of the income tax gambit marked the third time Kehoe has put lawmakers on a tough vote, only to see a negative outcome.
Along with the income tax phase-out, he backed the unsuccessful Amendment 4 to make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution and, last year, convinced fellow Republicans to support a new stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs only to see the team choose a more lucrative deal offered by Kansas.
House Majority Leader Alex Riley, a Springfield Republican who is poised to be speaker of the Missouri House in January, said he does not think voters’ emphatic rejection of Amendment 5 will hurt Kehoe’s ability to negotiate and cajole lawmakers in the future.
“I wouldn’t go so far to say this weakens Kehoe in the legislature. Governor Kehoe is widely respected in the House and Senate. We work really well with him,” Riley told the Post-Dispatch Wednesday.
Riley, however, said he is unsure how to proceed with future income tax cuts. They likely will remain a priority, he said, but not in the form of the changes soundly rejected by voters.
“I certainly think it is unlikely that there will be a constitutional amendment proposal,” Riley said. “It’s going to be back to the drawing board to see what that might look like.”
Kehoe’s plan would have given lawmakers the authority to expand sales and use taxes without additional voter approval to generate enough revenue to replace the roughly $9 billion brought into the state’s treasury from the 4.7% individual income tax. The proposal would not have affected Missouri’s corporate income tax.
The proposal was placed on the ballot with no support from Democratic lawmakers and Kehoe scheduled for the Aug. 4 primary, rather than the November general election. He said he wanted the earlier date to give lawmakers time to prepare for the changes if the amendment is approved.
The governor said eliminating the income tax would jumpstart Missouri’s economy by drawing businesses and residents to the state, but the plan fought headwinds from the start when supporters would not offer an outline of how much sales taxes would increase above the state’s current 4.225% level. Nor would supporters say what service taxes would increase, leaving voters to guess at how the plan would affect their pocketbooks at a time when affordability is a daily concern for many.
St. Louis University political scientist Ken Warren said there was little Kehoe could do to change the outcome.
“The content of Amendment 5 was just awful and I think the voters saw through it,” Warren said. “Give credit to the people. They saw through Amendment 5.”
He added, “There was nothing Kehoe could do to save a bill that was so flawed.”
The governor attended town hall meetings about the plan and sat down for multiple interviews with media outlets to promote it.
Senate President Cindy O’Laughlin, R- Shelbina, said Kehoe was active in promoting the Amendment. Voters were merely skeptical of the idea.
“I think people didn’t know what the alternative would be. People need those answers before they feel comfortable voting for a big change,” she said. “The governor made his case.”
Elections results in the St. Louis region reflect the statewide numbers. Overall, 83% of Missouri voters cast “no” votes. In the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jefferson County, the margins were all above 80% in opposition.
In St. Charles County, which leans Republican, the plan lost by a 78-21 margin.
Analysts and observers said the vote showed voters do not trust lawmakers to ensure the trade-off would work to their benefit.
“Amendment 5 crashed and burned because it offered nothing but empty promises,” said University of Missouri political scientist Peverill Squire. “It was predicated in an idea that voters could trust the people in Jefferson City to develop a new, better revenue system. Obviously, Missourians lacked confidence that such an improved system could be devised.”
Squire said the losses should humble Kehoe and suggest that Missourians do not want to go as far right as GOP lawmakers and the governor believe they do.
“The governor may want to move back toward more traditional Main Street Republican positions as he looks to 2028,” Squire said.
For some, the outcome was based more about fears that lower-income Missourians and senior citizens would have come out on the losing end of the calculation once the income tax is gone.
Sena Snipes, an Amazon warehouse worker and an official with the Missouri Workers Power organization in St. Louis, said working people came together in opposition to the tax shift.
“For somebody making what I make, cutting the income tax is worth pocket change. For the wealthy and corporations like the one I work for, it is worth a fortune, and I would have been the one paying hundreds more at the register to cover it,” Snipes said.
Jon Whiten, deputy director of the Washington DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said seniors would have paid an estimated $335 million more in taxes each year if the amendment had been given a green light, according to an internal analysis of the proposal.
“Lawmakers should respect the voters’ decision and abandon efforts to shift taxes away from wealthy households and onto families who spend most of their income on necessities. Missouri needs tax policies that make life more affordable, adequately fund public services, and ask those with the greatest ability to pay to contribute their fair share,” Whiten said in a statement.
Scott Charton, a spokesman for the Missouri Association of Realtors, which led the opposition to Amendment 5, said voters spoke loudly, if not angrily.
“The people are in charge, the majority rules, and every citizen’s vote counts equally. Missouri voters just made clear they won’t let Republicans rewrite the rules to protect their own power and line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy,” Charton said.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D- Kansas City, said Republicans should be worried about the November general election.
“The overwhelming defeat of Amendments 4 and 5 should surprise no one, and neither should the electoral consequences that are coming for lawmakers who voted for these schemes over the will of their constituents. In November, voters have the chance to send another powerful message to Jefferson City Republicans: If you mess with Missourians’ rights, you will pay the political price,” Aune said.
Riley said voters still are interested in reducing the income tax, but rejected Amendment 5 because it was too open-ended and gave the Legislature too much flexibility. The next attempt by Republicans, will be different.
“I don’t think it will look like this did,” Riley said.
Photo caption: Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and his wife, Claudia, get ready to vote on Aug. 4, 2026. (Governor Mike Kehoe/Facebook)
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© 2026 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Visit www.stltoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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