Income tax reform is a top priority for 2026 Missouri legislative session
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri General Assembly gaveled into its 2026 legislative session Wednesday afternoon.
The House of Representatives session was full of formalities, a press conference with House Democrats afterward showed top priorities for the minority party.
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe plans to announce his tax plan next week at the State of the State Address, but Democratic lawmakers are already planning to counter his proposal with another plan.
Kehoe wants to incrementally eliminate the state's income tax starting this year. He hasn't officially announced his plan, but it's likely the governor will have to either expand the sales tax base to include services or increase the sales tax.
House Minority Floor Leader Ashley Aune (D-Kansas City) said either option will hurt Missourians.
"The governor's ill-conceived tax plan would make life even more expensive than it already is, especially for working Missourians, who would enjoy little benefit from eliminating the income tax, but get smacked hard by higher sales tax," Aune said.
State Rep. Mark Boyko (D-Kirkwood) said he intends to file an alternative plan next week that he claims would save most citizens more money. Boyko couldn't give details of the plan.
A bill that was filed Wednesday before the opening session would allow the General Assembly to impeach Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, citing how he handled the new congressional map and the referendum to get that map on the November ballot.
The new congressional map was passed in September's special session and has been challenged with numerous lawsuits. The map is likely to flip a Democratic seat in Kansas City to Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Will Jobe (D-Independence) claims the secretary needs to be removed from office because he has already implemented the map despite the referendum freezing it in place. When exactly the new congressional maps go into effect is still unclear, and Missouri courts are likely to have the final say on that.
Jobe also claims the signatures the group backing the referendum collected before Oct. 14 are valid, legal signatures. Hoskins is not counting them toward the referendum because those signatures were collected before Kehoe signed the map into law. Hoskins responded to Jobe's resolution on X, saying he wasn't going to be intimidated by the possibility of impeachment.
“Impeachment is a serious Constitutional tool - it should not to be used as a press release, for political gain, or as clickbait,” Hoskins wrote.
And while Kehoe and his supporters have income tax reform as their top priorities, Mid-Missouri legislators are hoping to see action on other topics.
State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) has sponsored eight prefiled House bills.
One bill would require regular inspection of dog-breeding facilities. This bill was filed after Columbia woman Melissa Sanders was arrested and charged with 29 felony counts of animal abuse.
Tyson Smith also pre-filed a bill that prohibits people younger than 20 years old from buying semi-automatic and automatic weapons.
That bill follows a deadly shooting in downtown Columbia that killed Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams in late September. Since then, the University of Missouri president and Columbia city leaders have been considering ways to reduce violence in the city.
State Sen. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) pre-filed a Senate bill that would make it illegal for minors to possess a gun. Webber said on X that this bill is in response to crime in Columbia.
The 2026 legislative session has 1,187 prefiled bills, while last year had 770 prefiled bills.
