Missouri Supreme Court denies appeal in income tax ballot language case

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Supreme Court on Monday denied the state's appeal on a ruling last week that tweaked the ballot language on a question asking voters to eliminate the state income tax.

Chief Justice W. Brent Powell denied the appeal by state officials to challenge the rewritten ballot language in an order posted Monday morning.

"Missouri’s highest court is allowing voters to see a more truthful ballot summary of the power grab behind the politician’s Amendment 5," Scott Charton, a spokesman for the group Missourians for Fair Taxation, said in a news release Monday.

The Missouri Western District Court of Appeals denied an attempt last week to take the question off the ballot, but rewrote the language that will appear with the question on the August primary ballot.

The court stated in the decision that its rewrite cleared up that a "no" vote would still allow for future changes to the tax system.

The court also changed the ballot summary to note that the amendment would require local tax rate cuts without reducing school funding if sales tax revenue increases.

Amendment 5 would allow the state to phase out the current income tax, while increasing sales taxes to make up for the loss, and was a major priority of the Republican majority in Jefferson City this past legislative session. Gov. Mike Kehoe decided in May to put the measure on the August primary election ballot. Other ballot issues were certified last week.

The lawsuit was originally brought by private citizen Jill Owens against Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and other state officials.