April 21, 2026 - The Missouri House gave final approval today to Gov. Mike Kehoe's proposal to eliminate the individual income tax using growth from increased and expanded sales and use taxes. The proposal will be submitted to voters in November, 2026, unless the Governor moves the election to August. Although we were able to improve the bill from its original language, many questions and concerns remain. The final bill: Includes pass-through entities (PTE) in tax cut and eli

The cost of child care is a significant barrier for working families, often limiting participation in the workforce, which can have a big impact on the business bottom line. There is a new statewide program, Child Care Works , that helps employers address workforce recruitment and retention by offering child care cost share benefits. This program shares in the cost of child care by having employers, the state of Missouri, and the employee share the cost of child care for elig

By Ray McCarty, president and CEO, Associated Industries of Missouri Photo by Tim Bommel, Missouri House of Representatives April 16, 2026 - Early this morning, the Missouri Senate passed a revised version of Governor Mike Kehoe's plan to eliminate individual income taxes and replace the revenue with increased and expanded sales and use taxes. The revised constitutional amendment may be found HERE . The Senate version still must be approved by a House committee and the full H

April 2, 2026 - Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM) president and CEO Ray McCarty testified against HCS HJR 173 & 174, sponsored by Rep. Bishop Davidson (R), and promoted by Governor Mike Kehoe. The bill would allow voters to decide if they want to replace the current individual income tax with expanded and increased sales/use taxes and potentially other gross receipts taxes. AIM's position opposing the bill was developed after weeks of negotiations directly with the bill

Governor Mike Kehoe giving the State of the State Address in January, 2026 March 12, 2026 - Despite objections from Associated Industries of Missouri, the Voice of Missouri Business®, the Missouri House today gave final approval to HCS HJR 173 & 174 , a bill sponsored by Speaker of the House Jon Patterson and Rep. Bishop Davidson that asks voters for permission to increase sales and use tax rates and expand the taxes to services for the purpose of eliminating the individual i

March 9, 2026 - In a legislative alert sent to all elected members of the Missouri House of Representatives today, the Voice of Missouri Business® stood up for all Missouri businesses in opposing the current draft of the tax reform resolution. The text of the legislative alert is repeated in this article: "Associated Industries of Missouri must oppose the tax reform proposal as currently drafted but will continue to negotiate with proponents in an attempt to find language tha

Ray McCarty, president/CEO of AIM, testifies before the House Emerging Issues Committee 1/27/26 January 30, 2026 - At a hearing of the House Emerging Issues Committee on Tuesday, Associated Industries of Missouri president and CEO Ray McCarty testified against HB 2989 (Hardwick) . The bill would legalize gambling devices, called "video lottery terminals" or VLTs, and regulate and tax them. Below are the reasons Associated Industries of Missouri is opposed to this bill. 1. The

Speaker of the House Jon Patterson January 29, 2026 - Governor Mike Kehoe called for an overhaul of the tax system used to fund state government in his State of the State Address. His plan is to eliminate the individual income tax and replace those revenues with an expansion of the sales tax base (taxing transactions that are not taxed today) and an increase in the sales/use tax rate. The plan was filed as HJR 173 (Davidson) and HJR 174 (Speaker Patterson) in the Missouri H

Sen. Jason Bean January 29, 2026 - The Missouri Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources today advanced SB 953 (Sen. Jason Bean). The bill contains an AIM-drafted solution to funding woes of the Air Pollution Control Program (APCP) and helps protect program funding in the future. Supported by many organizations , including INFRA, ACEC-MO, Missouri Forest Products Assn., Missouri Agribusiness Assn., Missouri Concrete Association, and the Missouri