Income tax amendment, data centers on House District 59 candidates minds ahead of midterm
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Candidates running to replace long-standing Rep. Rudy Veit, who termed out of House District 59, have Amendment 5 and data centers on their minds as they talk with potential constituents.
Three Republicans are running to fill the spot, including former Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin, former Blair Oaks School Board member Glenn Reynolds and retired engineer Vic Rackers.
If approved by voters in August, Amendment 5 would allow lawmakers in the next legislative session to phase out the state-income tax. To replace the lost revenue, it's likely that the sales tax will increase. However, voters are only giving their consent for lawmakers to adjust taxes.
Tergin said the people she talks with while door-knocking agree that income tax needs to be reformed.
"However, there are a lot of concerns about what the implementation will actually look, and unless voters have a clear vision of what that's going to be, it can be very difficult for them to want to get on board," Tergin said.
Reynolds said the laws, HJR 173 and 174, don't outline the steps to replace the income tax.
"It appears to be a lack of planning after we reduce or after we remove the income tax. There doesn't seem to be a set plan on what's going to be coming after that," Reynolds said.
Rackers said he backs the amendment, but echoed that the people he's talked with seem to have reservations about implementation.
"They're concerned about the sales tax running out of control, that we could get into 10-11% sales tax," Rackers said. "But I trust the people that have developed it and the limitation, but still it's sort of undefined until it gets back into session and is set in stone and set in concrete to what actually will be implemented."
He and Reynolds told an ABC 17 News reporter that voters should take a look into the law behind Amendment 5 before heading to the ballot box.
Another rising topic of discussion in Missouri politics is data centers, after Amazon and Google took interest in building in Montgomery County.
All three candidates are skeptical about how data centers will use resources, including energy and natural resources.
"I feel like each data center needs to be taken as its own individual project," Reynolds said. "You have to weigh both the cost and the benefits out of them, and my biggest thing is making sure we're not going to be a net drain on our economy."
Rackers said he's concerned that data centers will take up rural farmland and energy.
"I just wonder and question what these data centers--how are they going to help our average Missouri citizen and how they're going to affect them?" Rackers said.
Tergin said there needs to be restrictions.
"I know that they can be disruptive when it comes to power and other things that are important to our community. So while they may work in some areas, in some communities, it's going to be important that they are the right fit and that restrictions are clearly in place," Tergin said.
