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Care about Missouri? Your vote Aug. 4 matters for the future.
- Protect Majority Rule MO
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Loring Bullard, Bob Kipfer, Barbara Lucks, Todd Parnell and Tim Smith
Springfield News-Leader
June 28, 2026
Pay close attention to the Missouri constitutional amendments on the Aug. 4 ballot. There is one that is good, and two that are very bad.
Amendment 1 is good. It would extend the existing 1/10th of one cent sales tax for Missouri’s state parks, historic sites, and county soil and water conservation districts. Missourians love their fish, forests, wildlife, farms, rivers and lakes, so have supported this sales tax every year it has come up for renewal. If we have any sense, we will pass this by a landslide, again.
Amendment 4 is bad in that it makes it harder for Missourians to pass citizen-led initiatives. Measures would have to pass in all of the state’s congressional districts, meaning one district could hold all Missourians hostage by blocking the measure.
Amendment 5 is also bad, a Trojan Horse if ever there was one. TV ads make it sound good, saying it would punish data centers — make them pay big time. But in reality, the amendment says absolutely nothing about data centers. Instead, it would gradually replace income tax revenue, which makes up 60% of the state’s budget, with sales tax revenue. This means huge increases in sales taxes on goods and services, with no cap on how much taxes could rise.
Amendment 5 would be a big win for rich people, who sometimes pay high income taxes, and a big loss for the rest of us, who pay less income tax but must still buy the same amount of goods and services. Further, future legislators would have to make the tax adjustments, with no guarantee they would do so. And to the distress of anyone the least bit conservation-minded, Amendment 5 would allow the state auditor to change, without a popular vote, the rate for constitutionally-mandated sales tax supporting “state parks and erosion control” and the Missouri Department of Conservation.
If you want to see a brighter future for Missourians, vote YES on Amendment 1 and NO on Amendments 4 and 5.
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