Repeal Taxes & Restore Fiscal Discipline

Over the last five years, state government has nearly doubled from $28 billion to $51 billion. Meanwhile, Missouri has the 20th highest individual income tax burden in the country, and only the 3rd highest corporate tax rate, meaning working people and small businesses are carrying a disproportionate share of the burden to fund this government expansion. We can’t make Missouri an attractive destination for workers and young families if our taxes force them to other states.

• Eliminate the State Income Tax: As Governor, I want to eliminate the state income tax. Currently, nine other states – red and blue – have no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming). To accomplish this, we need to examine all of our state revenue sources, and I will appoint a task force of experts to make recommendations on the best pro-growth strategies to replace revenue from the income tax.

  • Tom Feeney, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

  • Aaron Hedlund, former White House Chief Domestic Economist

  • Art Laffer, Laffer Center

  • Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform

  • Stephen Moore, Heritage Foundation

  • Jonathan Williams, economist

• Repeal the Gas Tax Increase: After voters rejected an increase 54-46% in 2018, Tax Hike Mike Kehoe found a way to circumvent voter wishes and increased gas taxes by 12.5 cents per gallon. Gas taxes are regressive and hurt working people and small businesses the most, while the revenues have been wasted by Jefferson City politicians.

• Reduce Government Spending: There is no justification for doubling state spending in five years and as Governor I will put a stop to it. There will be no new taxes and no net increase in spending on my watch. We will abandon automatic budget increases for government departments and agencies by implementing Zero-Based Budgeting, that requires each request for taxpayer money to be justified.