07/01/2026
I found this explanation of Amendment 5 and thought I would share.......
I saw the Amendment 5 commercial tonight and it got under my skin.
The ad makes it sound simple — make big tech and data centers pay their fair share so everyday Missourians don’t have to. And honestly? That’s a real issue. Data centers in this state have pulled in roughly $77 million in tax breaks. Companies like Google and Meta pay zero sales tax on the billions in equipment they use to build these facilities. That’s a legitimate grievance.
But here’s where the commercial stops telling the truth.
Amendment 5 doesn’t actually require data centers to pay anything. There’s no language in the amendment that closes those corporate loopholes. It just gives the legislature broad authority to restructure the entire sales tax system. Meaning they could make big tech pay — or they could keep every single corporate exemption exactly as-is while expanding sales taxes onto things you buy every single day.
And what would those new taxes potentially cover?
The amendment eliminates two constitutional protections that Missouri voters already approved — once in 2010 and again in 2015 — that prevented politicians from expanding sales taxes onto real estate and previously untaxed goods and services. Those weren’t gifts from the government. You voted for those. Amendment 5 wipes them off the books.
What replaces them? Verbal promises. Governor Kehoe has said healthcare and housing will be protected. But when reporters and doctors pressed for specifics, the answer was clear: that protection is not written into the amendment. Not a single line. Doctors in St. Louis are already speaking out about the possibility of sales taxes being applied to medical care.
And here’s the part that should bother everyone regardless of party:
If this passes, Missouri politicians get a 5-year window to restructure the entire sales tax system without a public vote. No referendum. No check-in with voters. Just the legislature, behind closed doors, deciding what gets taxed and what doesn’t — and who gets to keep their exemptions.
You’d be trading a tax cut you can see on paper for tax hikes you can’t predict, with no safety net, based entirely on a TV commercial.
Missouri has a history of voters showing up and protecting themselves when the legislature won’t. We did it in 2010. We did it in 2015. Don’t undo that work on August 4th.
Share this if you know someone who only saw the commercial.
🗳️ Primary Election Day — August 4, 2026
📍 Missouri voters only
