Editorial -- No on Amendment 5

Amendment 5 would eliminate the Missouri Income Tax and give politicians a blank check to replace it with sales taxes. The problem is, we don’t trust the politicians to raise our sales taxes given the disturbing news release we recently received from the Missouri State Auditor’s Office stating that the state is headed off a $2 billion fiscal cliff. The politicians in Jefferson City got us into this mess. So why should we trust them with raising our sales taxes over the next five years when they are leading us off this cliff to begin with?

Amendment 5 would upend 40 years of voter-approved measures that have kept our taxes down. Among them:

—The Hancock Amendment, which limits the amount of revenues that the state can bring in and which states that major tax increases have to go to a vote of the people.

—The 2010 ban on taxes on real estate transfers. This was a dealbreaker for many people wanting to live and work in this state, and amounted to double-dipping by the state. If Amendment 5 passes, it would bring it back.

—The 2016 ban on taxing services. In 2016, Missouri voters passed laws banning politicians from taxing services like doctor visits, car repairs, daycare, haircuts, and more. If you think that the pain at the pump is bad, wait till you see the sticker shock when your car breaks down or you get sick or you want to do the responsible thing and work, only to be unable to afford childcare.

None of us like to pay taxes. But we’re not against all taxes. We’re against politicians having a blank check to make things even worse when Washington and Jefferson City are bought and paid for by the millionaires, billionaires, and now trillionaires given that Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire.

If we have to pay more taxes to escape the $2 billion fiscal cliff that the Missouri State Auditor says we’re in, then let’s put a tax increase to a vote for the people with specific earmarks, such as school funding and roads and bridges that we can all agree need to be funded. If it fails, then come up with a list of items that will be cut and services that will be terminated. No more blank checks for politicians.