The Southwest Public Policy Institute is proud to join a broad coalition of free-market organizations in supporting Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe’s “Missouri Promise,” an initiative to responsibly phase out the state’s individual income tax and finally modernize a tax code that has gone largely unchanged since 1931.
Missouri’s current tax structure was built for a Depression-era economy that no longer exists. Today, Missourians earning barely above $9,000 a year are pushed into the top tax bracket, while the state’s sales-tax system is riddled with carveouts, exemptions, and bureaucratic complexity that benefit special interests rather than taxpayers. This is the opposite of what sound fiscal policy should look like.
Across the country, states are proving that smarter, simpler tax systems can strengthen economies, attract jobs, grow populations, and empower workers. States like North Carolina, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are demonstrating that responsible, trigger-based reforms can lower, and ultimately eliminate, income-tax burdens while protecting essential public services. Zero-income-tax states continue to outperform high-tax states in growth, migration, and economic vitality. Missouri should not be watching this movement from the sidelines. It should be leading.
Critics love invoking the failed Kansas tax experiment of the early 2010s. They rarely mention what really matters: modern reforms bear little resemblance to those mistakes. The national conversation has evolved. Reform today means disciplined spending, statutory triggers, fiscal guardrails, and long-term structural modernization.
Missouri has a choice to make. It can remain anchored to a Depression-era tax regime designed for a world that no longer exists, or it can embrace a 21st-century model that rewards work, attracts families and businesses, and strengthens long-term economic freedom.
The Southwest Public Policy Institute proudly stands with Governor Kehoe and our coalition partners in urging Missouri lawmakers to:
- Endorse the goal of eliminating the individual income tax
- Design a responsible, disciplined “path to zero”
- Resist special-interest carveouts that undermine reform
Better living through better policy means embracing systems that reflect how Americans live, work, and compete today. Missouri now has the opportunity to join the growing list of states proving that economic freedom, responsible governance, and pro-growth policy can deliver real results for real people.
SPPI is honored to help advance that vision, together with national heavyweights such as:
National Taxpayers Union (NTU)
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Independent Women’s Forum / Independent Women’s Voice
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Market Institute