07-08-2025
KCMO to decide whether earnings tax goes on November ballot
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wednesday at Kansas City City Hall, FOX4 talked to Mayor Quinton Lucas about whether the earnings tax will be decided on by voters in the city in November of 2025.
'It's not currently on the ballot. It's not currently planned for the ballot, and I think we have about two or three weeks to try to figure that out if we were to want to,' Mayor Lucas said.
As Mayor Lucas alluded to, figuring that out must happen by August 26. That's the deadline if the city wants it to be on this November's ballot. The 1% earnings tax is levied on anyone who works in the city, regardless of where they live.
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Mayor Lucas said a lot is going on in Jackson County over the next three months.
As of Wednesday, a recall election of Democratic County Executive Frank White was planned for September 30. Tuesday, November 4, Jackson County residents will be deciding on whether they want their assessor to be elected in future elections.
'You want to think about, 'How can you run a campaign?' Mayor Lucas said.
'Can you inform people well enough in time and frankly, what issues are happening right now that you don't want to get pulled into? There is a very robust tax conversation occurring right now in Jackson County and Platte County really, and that being, you know, the majority of Kansas Citians, you may not necessarily want to have a tax chat at the same time.'
Besides talking to Mayor Lucas on Wednesday, FOX4 also talked to Show-Me Institute Senior Fellow Patrick Tuohey, who's not a supporter of the earnings tax. Other municipalities around the city don't have this tax.
'Kansas City needs to understand that it is competing with the metro areas around it to draw talent, to draw population, and it's not just the earnings tax that's chasing people away. It's crime. It's schools. It's infrastructure,' Tuohey said.
'If Kansas City is serious about being competitive, it really needs to think about all these things, the earnings tax included.'
Mayor Lucas disagrees with the narrative that suburban cities with their new developments are competing with his city because of things like the earnings tax.
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'You go to a job because people treat you well, because you feel like you're doing outstanding work and because you're interested in what you do, your colleagues and all that surrounds you,' Mayor Lucas continued.
'Kansas City will continue to be a place that attracts great employers because we build great communities, because we invest in downtown, the plaza, so many other areas.'
The last time the earnings tax was on the ballot for voters in the city, it easily passed in April of 2021. 77% of voters said yes. Just 23% said no. As of Wednesday afternoon, the earnings tax was not on the Tuesday, August 12, Finance Committee agenda.
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