Republican ballot measures failed spectacularly in August. Will they try again?

Jack Harvel, The Kansas City Star on Aug 20, 2026

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Republican lawmakers acknowledged shortcomings in their proposals to eliminate the income tax and raise the bar for amending the state Constitution. Still, they didn’t rule out a second try on either proposal.

Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected Republican-sponsored ballot measures in the Aug. 4 primary, with both issues failing to get the support of more than 20% of voters.

Amendment 4 would have required any citizen-led initiative to amend the state Constitution to pass in all eight of Missouri’s congressional districts. Such a move could allow as few as 5% of voters to reject a proposed amendment. Amendment 5 would have empowered lawmakers to raise sales and use taxes with the goal of gradually reducing the income tax.

Eliminating the income tax was a top priority for Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who said at the Missouri State Fair that he may make a second attempt. He said he has heard from Missourians who pleaded with him not to give up on eliminating the income tax.

“Obviously Amendment 5 was not the plan that Missourians wanted. There’s other options out there to continue to look at relief from state income tax,” Kehoe said. “We didn’t, maybe, communicate the plan very well, or the package wasn’t put together right. It doesn’t mean I don’t stop.”

Kehoe said the proposal’s messaging or details may have sunk it but said he would support other legislation that he believes will decrease people’s tax burden. He pointed to property tax as another avenue for reducing that burden.

“If you ask the average Missourian, ‘Do you want to keep more of your money?’ Their answer is going to be yes,” Kehoe said.

On Amendment 4, Kehoe blamed the loss on moneyed interests, and said he’d be open to other proposals to make it more difficult to amend the Constitution.

“I think Amendment 4 was more about, again, large money coming into our state that funded a lot of that campaign because they want to continue to buy our constitution,” Kehoe said. “I think our Constitution should not be for sale. I think it should be difficult to change it.”

Push against constitutional amendments

Republican lawmakers who spoke with The Star broadly supported another push to reform citizen-led constitutional amendments, but were less certain about eliminating the income tax. Some said the focus may shift to property tax relief, while others said a different method of eliminating the income tax may be more successful.

Sen. Joe Nicola, a Grain Valley Republican, notably broke ranks with his party to oppose Amendment 5. He said he’s not opposed to eliminating the state income tax, but said the proposal was the wrong way to do it.

“We currently have a law that is phasing the income tax down to four and a half percent. That floor can be removed and go to zero,” Nicola said. “Can we get to zero without raising (other) taxes? I’m not sure, but I think that’s the route we should go.”

Nicola supported Amendment 4, but acknowledged issues with the approach. He said he would prefer a model in which a proposal would have to win in six-of-eight districts, mirroring the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that two-thirds of states ratify constitutional amendments.

Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican who’s challenging longtime Kansas City Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, said he thinks the messaging on the amendments got “muddied” but that he still believes citizen-led constitutional amendments must be reformed.

“Hopefully, if we’re able to go back to the drawing board and the legislature redoes this again, goes to the voters, they’re able to get ahead of the messaging instead of being reactionary to it,” Brattin said.

He was less emphatic about another attempt at income tax elimination but said he broadly supports tax reform.

“People want reform, they want money back in their pockets. So however we can deliver that, we’ll do that,” Brattin said.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said he supports further attempts to raise the bar for constitutional amendments. On Wednesday, Hoskins won a court decision rejecting a ballot measure that would make it harder for lawmakers to reverse citizen-led constitutional amendments, which opponents plan to appeal.

“Some of our surrounding states, like the state of Kansas, only the legislature can put something on the ballot. I’m not saying Missouri needs to do that, but it does need to be a little bit harder to put something in the Missouri Constitution,” Hoskins said.

Rep. Keri Ingle, a Lee’s Summit Democrat, said that the failure of Amendments 4 and 5 provides a sharp critique that Democrats can convey to voters. She is one of the highest-profile races in the country for a Lee’s Summit Senate district against House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Republican.

“He’s going to have to take responsibility for that. When he ran for election in 2024, he told constituents that he would uphold the will of the people,” Ingle said. “The truth of the matter is, he didn’t.”