JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri's new governor said he wants to cut the state's income tax, and a group of Republican lawmakers are working to make that possible. 

The current income tax rate in Missouri is 4.7%, bringing in billions of dollars that are used to pay for state services. Those behind this measure said eliminating the income tax will increase population and economic growth, but others are worried this only benefits those who make the highest income. 

"My administration will focus on reducing taxes and cutting regulations, so families keep more of their own money and so job creators want to come here, expand here, and hire more hard-working Missourians," Gov. Mike Kehoe said during his inaugural address Monday. 

Inspired by the new governor, Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, said he feels reducing taxes is a must.

"We’re constantly growing; our economy is constantly growing; our revenues are constantly growing; overtime, it trends upward," Davidson said. "The problem is that our government spending is outgrowing that pace. If we could keep our spending to a linear growth, we could capture excess, we could capture our growth, and we could use it to buy down our rate."

The plan would slowly reduce the rate to zero and put a strict spending cap on lawmakers by linking the state budget to population growth. Meaning, if the population grows by 1%, that's all the state budget could increase from the previous year. 

"Missourians can feel confident about this plan because we're utilizing our growth to buy down our rate, and we're doing that with our Tax Reform Fund," Davidson said. 

Davidson is sponsoring House Joint Resolution 1, which limits spending and establishes a fund to be used to fund budgetary shortfalls. That "Tax Reform Fund" is funded by any revenue above anticipated spending, and once it reaches $120 million, lawmakers could cut the top income tax rate by 0.1%. Then, another.05% percentage point for every additional $60 million available. 

"We want to make sure that if we're cutting income taxes, we're doing it in a way that's responsible that doesn't negatively affect the budget, that doesn't negatively affect the services that we provide to Missourians," Davidson said. 

Democrats agree with Republicans that life is too expensive for Missourians, but they don't believe this is the right way to go about it. 

"It's important to remember that the proposals coming out of our caucus include things like ending sales tax on groceries—the things that hit families every single day," House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said. "That's what's important to us—not giving tax cuts to the folks who need it the least."

Over the past decade, lawmakers have cut the state income tax rate multiple times, including back in 2022. That legislation lowered the top state income tax rate from 5.3% to 4.95% in 2023, and then the rate would drop to 4.5% if Missouri continues to experience revenue growth. 

If this legislation is approved, voters would have the final say.