- Missouri lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment for November 2026 to decide the future of state income taxes.
- The measure proposes a phased tax swap replacing income tax revenue with expanded sales and use taxes.
- If voters approve, the state could begin eliminating individual income taxes as early as 2027.
(MISSOURI) — Missouri lawmakers sent a constitutional amendment to voters on April 22, 2026, setting up a November 2026 vote on whether to repeal the state income tax through a phased tax swap.
The House of Representatives passed the resolution on Wednesday after both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly approved the measure, clearing the way for it to go directly to the ballot.
If voters approve it, lawmakers would gain authority to expand state sales and use taxes in the future to replace and eventually eliminate the individual income tax. The plan would lift current constitutional restrictions that block such expansions.
The proposal does not repeal the income tax immediately. It requires voter approval before any tax shifts occur, and it allows a gradual replacement of income tax revenue through higher sales taxes.
Under the plan described by lawmakers, the phaseout could begin as early as 2027. Missouri would fully eliminate the individual income tax once replacement revenue is secured.
The ballot language is expected to focus on a narrower constitutional question with broad tax consequences: whether to repeal the ban on expanding certain sales and use taxes so lawmakers can carry out the income tax elimination plan.
That structure places the tax swap at the center of the campaign that now moves from the Capitol to voters. Rather than asking Missourians to approve an immediate rate change, the amendment would first remove constitutional barriers and authorize future shifts in how the state raises money.
Lawmakers gave the measure final approval on April 22, 2026. Because it is a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, it does not need additional signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The vote marks a milestone for supporters of income tax elimination, who have pushed to move Missouri away from taxing wages and other income and toward greater reliance on sales-based revenue. The resolution approved this week would not itself set out every future tax change, but it would authorize the framework for that transition.
Missouri voters now face a choice with long-term consequences for how the state funds itself. A yes vote would permit lawmakers to raise sales and use taxes later in order to phase out the individual income tax; a no vote would leave the constitutional restrictions in place.
The measure advanced through Missouri’s Republican-led legislature during continuing debate over state revenue sources. Supporters have framed it as a restructuring of the tax system, while the amendment itself focuses on removing legal limits that stand in the way of that restructuring.
Because the proposal is constitutional, the next step rests with the statewide electorate rather than the governor’s desk. The issue on the November 2026 ballot will ask voters whether Missouri should open the door to a tax swap that could begin in 2027 and end with the state’s individual income tax gone once lawmakers secure enough replacement revenue.
The language approved by the legislature leaves the timing of full repeal tied to one condition: replacement revenue. That means the pace of the phaseout would depend on how and when lawmakers expand sales and use taxes after winning voter permission to do so.
Missouri’s action places one of the state’s biggest tax questions directly before voters. After the Missouri General Assembly completed its work on April 22, 2026, the campaign over the tax swap, sales taxes, and the future of the state income tax moved into the public arena.
