Missouri Supreme Court rejects challenge to earnings tax renewal requirement

• Flickr: Caleb Zahnd
• Kansas City’s earnings tax could be a recurring ballot issue.

Kansas City voters will likely hold the fate of the earnings tax in their hands again in 2016. On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit challenging the results of a 2010 statewide ballot measure that bound Kansas City and St. Louis to put their respective earnings taxes to a vote every five years.

Kansas City residents approved a continuation of the earnings tax in April 2011. The measure passed with 78 percent support. If the earnings tax were to be struck down by voters, it would be phased out over a 10-year period.