On March 11, Americans for Tax Reform led a coalition of national and state organizations supporting the effort to eliminate the state income tax in Missouri via ballot referendum. The House will consider and vote on HCS for HCRs 173 & 174 this week.

Read the full letter below:

March 11, 2026

Dear Representative,

We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to support the House Committee Substitute for House Joint Resolutions 173 & 174, a proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate the Missouri state income tax.

Families fleeing high tax states like California and New York are gravitating to zero income tax states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Joining the ranks of the eight states that levy no taxes on personal income would prove transformative in Missouri’s ability to attract workers, wealth, and business investment across its borders.

With competition on personal income tax reduction and elimination heating up, there is no time for Missouri to rest on its laurels. Over the last few years, triggers to eliminate the state income tax were enacted in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and West Virginia. Now, legislative leaders in another dozen states are seriously committed to doing the same. Meanwhile, twelve states cut income taxes just last year, including Ohio enacting a flat income tax of 2.75%, Kansas adopting a revenue trigger to 4% flat with two-thirds majorities in both chambers, and Kentucky passing an extra 0.5% percentage point cut to speed up its existing trigger.

Despite recent cuts to the top rate, Missouri’s income tax is no longer competitive. It now ranks higher than every state on its border except Illinois and Kansas. Iowa has come down from 8.98% to 3.8%, while simultaneously lowering its corporate income tax rate from 12% to 7.1%. In recent years, 70% more Missourians relocated to Tennessee compared to the other way around. Now is the time for Missouri to join the ranks of no-income-tax, high-growth states or risk slipping behind even more.

This legislation is fundamentally pro-growth, pro-family and pro-business. A recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers found that the average Missouri worker would see their wages rise by nearly $3,000 from higher economic growth unleashed by income tax elimination, and the business startup rate would rise by nearly 15%. Small businesses file under the personal side of the code and this HJR prioritizes mom-and-pop shops across Missouri who are still dealing with high producer prices. Phasing out the income tax means ending the tax on paychecks that impacts everything families buy and drives up the cost of living.

The HCS for HJRs 173 & 174 presents a historic opportunity for Missouri lawmakers to build upon smaller cuts that have taken its top income tax rate to an improved, but no longer competitive, 4.7%. We urge you to advance this legislation out of the House of Representatives at the earliest opportunity and allow Missouri voters to decide on permanent, meaningful income tax relief this year.

Sincerely,

Grover Norquist

President

Americans for Tax Reform

Lisa B. Nelson

CEO

American Legislative Exchange Council Action

Gary Hollis

State Director

Americans for Prosperity Missouri

Dennis Ganahl

Founder and CEO

MO Tax Relief Now

Byron Keelin
President

Freedom Principle MO

Andy Bakker

Executive Director

Liberty Alliance USA