Missouri governor’s tax plan draws skepticism in crowded state Senate GOP primary

The outcome of a crowded Republican primary for Missouri’s 6th Senate District could turn on the plan to eliminate the state income tax — and how much voters trust lawmakers to overhaul the tax code.

Appearing on the ballot as Amendment 5, the top priority of Gov. Mike Kehoe would give lawmakers five years to impose sales taxes on transactions not currently taxed and raise existing sales tax rates, with the revenue produced used to phase out the income tax. 

When the legislation came up for a final vote in April, state Rep. Rudy Veit of Wardsville — an attorney running for the District 6 Senate seat after eight years in the House — was one of only nine House Republicans to vote no.

Now four of the six candidates vying to replace term-limited state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter of Jefferson City say Amendment 5 is too vague about new or increased taxes Missourians would have to pay in exchange for eliminating the income tax.

Veit told The Independent the proposal is unpopular with constituents.

“They’re just concerned it’s too wide open,” Veit said. “They don’t trust us — our legislature — that much to start with, and you tell them, ‘We don’t know what we’re going to charge, but we know we’re going to raise the money.’ That doesn’t fly very well.”

“I’ve been in the legislature eight years, and I don’t have that much trust in them,” Veit added. “I can’t imagine what people on the outside looking in see.”

Republicans squeeze tax overhaul through Missouri Senate in late-night vote

It’s a concern shared by Macks Creek restaurant owner Amber Buckles, Camden County Presiding Commissioner Todd “Ike” Skelton of Osage Beach and former state Rep. Lisa Thomas, a psychiatrist from Lake Ozark. 

Jake Vogel, president of Jefferson City Coca-Cola Bottling Company, told The Independent he differs from his fellow candidates because he “would have voted yes to move (Amendment 5) toward the ballot for the people.” 

But even Vogel, who was endorsed by Kehoe, stopped short of praising the plan.

“It is a plan,” Vogel said. “I will say that I had to learn more. I would encourage people to do due diligence and read up on the bill.”

After multiple calls and emails, former Jefferson City Councilman Derrick Spicer wrote in an email to The Independent that he was “really busy on [his] campaign trail knocking doors, going to events” and requested a list of written questions. He had not answered emailed questions from The Independent by publication time.

But Spicer wrote in a social media post April 16 that he supported an earlier version of the plan.

The winner of the Aug. 4 primary will face J. Don Salcedo of Jefferson City, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The district is based in central Missouri and includes all of Cole, Camden, Miller, Moniteau and Morgan counties.

Rudy Veit

If Amendment 5 passes, Veit said, exemptions from new or increased sales taxes are likely to go to the interest groups with the most organized and well-funded lobbyists.

“Who gets the tax exemptions?” he said. “It’s going to be those groups with the most money at stake, those with the loudest lobbyists and the largest amount of money at the legislature.”

Veit was also among a small minority of Republicans when he voted against Amendment 4.

The proposal would require citizen-led constitutional amendments to win not only a statewide majority, but also a majority in each of Missouri’s congressional districts. Constitutional amendments proposed by lawmakers would still need only a statewide majority.

Veit said that while he agrees that Missouri needs a higher bar to amend the state constitution, Amendment 4 would effectively eliminate initiative petitions by allowing the vote in a single district to defeat a proposed amendment even if it won a statewide majority.

“The constitution is designed to protect the minority from the majority, and 50% doesn’t do that,” Veit said. “I’ve been an advocate that we need to change initiative petitions, but I never dreamt we would go to the extent of basically taking that away from the people.”

Veit unsuccessfully proposed an alternative that would have required a 55% statewide majority for citizen-led constitutional amendments, with no congressional district requirement.

Veit’s campaign fund had $294,304 on hand as of April 15 filings — more than any other candidate in the district. He had raised $326,708 and spent $102,685.

Jake Vogel

Vogel said infighting has stymied Missouri Republicans and that his experience as a veteran and at the helm of his family’s Coca-Cola franchise will help him build bridges. 

“This business is all about respect,” Vogel said. “I will talk to everyone. I don’t care what your political affiliation is.”

Joining the U.S. Army as a recent college graduate in 2005 and serving as an Army Ranger and assault sniper in Iraq and Afghanistan gave Vogel a “skill set of taking care of people,” he said.

If he is elected, Vogel said he hopes to help Missourians prosper as small business owners by streamlining licensure processes or state grant applications.

Vogel has shown he can raise money and drum up support. As of April 15 filings, he had raised $257,067, spent $157,210 and had $92,803 on hand. He has since contributed $300,000 of his own money to the campaign. 

Kehoe and First Lady Claudia Kehoe were special guests at a May reception in support of Vogel’s campaign hosted by St. Louis businessman Nelson Grumney III.

But last week, the race turned personal. Vogel is the target of attack mailers paid for by a political action committee funded almost entirely by Thomas that resurfaces a 2016 DWI and a 2020 domestic violence call.

A PAC called Missourians for Ethical and Transparent Government funded mailers accusing Vogel of trying to avoid arrest for the 2016 DWI by invoking the position of his father, former state Sen. Carl Vogel. The mailers also include part of a Cole County Sheriff’s Office incident report describing a 2020 domestic violence call about Vogel made by his wife.

Vogel told The Independent “there’s no excuse” for his DWI and said he tried to convince Capitol Police officers to let him go home instead of arresting him, including by bringing up his father, who had died three months before the incident.

“They probably knew him, in and out of the tower every day for 20 years,” Vogel said. “I tried to be like, ‘Hey, can I just walk home?’ They were like, ‘No, that’s not going to work.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I know.’”

Vogel, whose blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit in Missouri, said he did community service at an animal shelter after being found guilty of driving while intoxicated.

The argument that led to the 2020 domestic violence call began after a woman Vogel had previously dated sent messages to his wife, Vogel said. 

A computer-aided dispatch report from that night indicates that Vogel’s wife told a dispatcher that he was “being violent” and holding her arms down. There was no arrest.

“Like any other marriage, we’ve had ups and downs,” Vogel said. “But I will tell you, we’ve been stronger in faith and much more a team ever since that one time.” 

Missourians for Ethical and Transparent Government was established on March 11 and is nearly entirely funded by a $60,000 donation from Thomas.

Thomas told The Independent she had no involvement in the mailers and contributed to the PAC because she supports ethical and transparent government.

“I don’t know who they support or don’t support, or what issues they’re going to push, other than the very broad definition, the words that they have in the name of their PAC,” Thomas said. “I believe in being ethical and being transparent, so it’s an organization or a PAC that I can financially support.”

Lisa Thomas

Thomas said that while she supports eliminating the state income tax, she is “not in favor of the current plan.”

With no details about how lawmakers would raise sales tax revenue, Thomas said working families and Missourians on fixed incomes could end up paying more than they already do.

“I worry that this is a bait and switch,” Thomas said.

Thomas said her proudest achievements as a House member from 2021 through 2024 involved constituent services. She pointed to a constituent stationed at the Pentagon who kept hitting roadblocks trying to renew a vehicle registration in Missouri.

“They were in a sticky situation and being told to do things that were physically impossible for them to comply, and they still wanted to do the right thing,” Thomas said. “Our office was able to unstick that situation for them.”

A psychiatrist with more than 20 years of experience, Thomas said she wants to address unequal access to quality, affordable healthcare. Missouri law allows assistant physicians — medical school graduates who have passed their licensing exams but have not completed a residency — to work only under supervision in rural and underserved areas.

Incentivizing assistant physicians to work in Missouri, she said, “would automatically increase the availability and the accessibility of practitioners in those rural and underserved areas.”

Thomas’ campaign fund had $237,732 on hand as of April 15. She had raised $269,395 — $264,800 of it her own money — and spent $30,518.

Ike Skelton

Skelton said during a May candidate forum hosted by the Camden County Republican Club that rather than “actual numbers,” Amendment 5 has provided “pie in the sky nothingness.”

While Skelton said he wants to see the income tax eliminated, he hopes to replace it with a universal consumption tax on sales and services. Every household, regardless of income, would receive a “prebate” calculated as a percentage of the federal poverty level and designed to cover taxes on basic necessities.

The idea is modeled on legislation that has repeatedly been proposed in Congress since the 1990s but gained little traction. In Missouri, Republican state Rep. Darin Chappell of Rogersville has sponsored similar legislation.

Skelton told The Independent state lawmakers should discuss guardrails for data center development.

“There needs to be some protections on our environment, so that they cannot spoil the land for everybody,” Skelton said. “But if you want to do that in your community, you should be able to do that.”

The Camden County Commission passed an ordinance in April banning tax abatements for data center developers and including requirements for data centers’ power and water consumption.

Skelton was found guilty of “obstructing government operations” in 2025 after he removed a Flock traffic camera in Camden County. Skelton argued the camera violated a county ordinance banning automatic license plate readers, but the court found Skelton’s removal of the camera hindered the Missouri Department of Public Safety’s law enforcement activities. He was fined $500.

Skelton is the only candidate to file his third quarter fundraising disclosure so far, showing he had $15,281 on hand in his campaign fund as of July 7. He had raised $23,375 and spent $8,094.

Amber Buckles

Buckles told The Independent she sees Amendment 5 as “more of a tax swap” than tax relief.

“Everybody’s just thinking, ‘Oh yay, we’re getting rid of a tax,’” Buckles said. “I think there’s a lot of people that don’t realize there’s more to (phasing out) that income tax.”

Buckles spent much of her career overseeing diesel mechanic shops before opening 1776 Bar and Grill in Macks Creek about five years ago. She decided to run for office, she said, to bring politics in line with the needs of more Missourians.

“It doesn’t seem like politics work for working people,” Buckles said.

Buckles had $218 on hand in her campaign fund in April. She had raised $525.

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This article was originally published by Missouri Independent and is republished by MetroSTL under a Creative Commons license. The reporting is the outlet’s; please support them.