Eliminating the state income tax could also do away with ‘circuit breaker’ for elderly, disabled

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As some Missouri lawmakers work to pass a bill that would kick-start the process to eliminate state income tax, some seniors living on fixed incomes are worried about what this would do to their monthly budget.

Senators are considering House Joint Resolution 173, which would phase out the income tax by 2032. If the General Assembly approves the bill, the question would go to voters in November for final approval.

Lawmakers haven't written any new tax codes -- that would be a task for the 2027 General Assembly -- but the bill sponsors, Speaker of the House Jon Patterson (R-Lee's Summit) and Rep. David Bishop (R-Republic), say the way to make up revenue loss from income taxes is by expanding the sales tax base to include services.

Income tax makes up about two-thirds of the state's revenue. While lawmakers have addressed one way to make it up, they haven't added explicit protections for a property tax credit for low-income seniors and 100% disabled people that is directly tied to state income tax.

Services for Independent Living, located in Columbia, helps seniors file for the property tax credit. Spokesperson Karen Sicheneder said people file for the credit with their state income tax, and it's returned the same way.

The credit is known as the "circuit breaker" and is meant to keep the elderly and disabled in their homes.

"If you're not paying income tax, where are you getting that money from? So this would effectively destroy the circuit breaker, if they eliminated income tax," Sicheneder said.

According to the Department of Revenue, people who own and live in their homes could receive up to $1,100, while renters could see up to $750 as a one-time payment.

People don't have to file their income taxes to apply for and receive the tax credit.

For seniors like Brian Page, who lives on a fixed income of less than $1,500 a month, the money he gets back from the tax credit is used immediately.

Page is 80 years old and battling cancer, so a lot of his money goes toward health care. The money he receives from the tax credit once a year is crucial.

"What I think is a bigger issue in all of this is not the politics, but how do we treat one another? Do we do it with kindness and compassion and respect for one another, acknowledging the burdens that older people like myself have already walked the walk?" Page said. "And to tell us you are responsible until your last breath to pay at the rate that everybody else is, is not fair and reasonable."

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