Missouri bishops warn elimination of state income tax could burden lower-income residents
Missouri Catholic bishops urged voters to weigh justice and equity before voting on Amendment 5, which would reduce and eventually eliminate the state income tax. They warned that replacing the income tax with sales taxes would be regressive and could burden low‑income residents, calling for prudence. Bishops urged preservation of tax incentives for charitable giving and that government keep the needs of the poor at the forefront of public policy. Polls show a slight majority of Missouri voters favor eliminating the income tax, but bishops emphasize weighing benefits against potential harm to vulnerable populations.
2 months ago
Missouri’s Catholic bishops are urging voters to weigh “justice and equity” as the state prepares to decide on Amendment 5, a proposal that would phase out the personal income tax and replace lost revenue with higher sales taxes, which they say could place a heavier burden on low‑income households. 1 2
Evaluate Catholic doctrine on taxation and the common good
Catholic doctrine treats taxation not merely as a technical instrument of government, but as a moral obligation tied to justice, solidarity, and the common good—with the further requirement that taxes be applied reasonably and fairly and that public spending genuinely serve human development, especially the weakest.
Catholic moral teaching grounds civic duties in the command to love one’s neighbor. In particular, submission to legitimate authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it “morally obligatory” to pay taxes.
The Catechism’s phrasing explicitly ties the duty to pay taxes to Scripture (Romans 13:7) and frames it as part of the Christian’s responsibility toward civil life.
The Compendium also describes the duties of citizens in relation to civil authority as including loyal collaboration, which “includes … payment of taxes,” along with defending one’s country and exercising the right/duty to vote.
Catholic social teaching defines the common good as the set of social conditions that allow people—as individuals and groups—to reach fulfillment “more fully and more easily.” It is not just the sum of private advantages.
So, taxation is morally evaluated by whether it helps build a genuine shared good: a civic order that enables persons and communities to live and develop with dignity.
The Catechism teaches that it is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society.
Compendium social doctrine goes further: it treats tax revenues and public spending as having “crucial economic importance” because they can become instruments of development and solidarity—but only if financing and spending meet moral requirements.
Public financing is described as directed to the common good when certain principles are observed—first among them: “the payment of taxes as part of the duty of solidarity.”
This matters for evaluation: Catholic doctrine does not treat taxation as a purely optional contribution, but as part of a moral duty to take responsibility for others’ real needs.
The Compendium specifies that public spending is directed to the common good when taxes are:
It also adds that redistribution must respect solidarity, equality, and making use of talents, with “greater attention to families” by dedicating adequate resources to them.
Catholic teaching insists that charity and justice are inseparable: justice is the “primary way” of charity (the “minimum measure”), because charity requires giving what is due in justice before giving “mine” to others.
In that light, taxation is not “the cold business of the state” only—it is one form (institutional and juridical) of responding to the neighbor’s needs through justice and solidarity.
Moreover, the common good is explicitly described as something to be desired and pursued as a requirement of both justice and charity.
Catholic doctrine does not give a single technical tax-rate formula in the sources provided here; instead it supplies moral criteria for judging policies:
The Compendium links just, effective financing to the state’s credibility as guarantor of systems designed “above all to protect the weakest members of society.”
So, when asking whether a tax structure serves the common good, Catholic teaching pushes toward questions like:
A 2020 publication from the Holy See describes “structures of sin” connected to economic and fiscal life, including:
It states that money that should be paid in taxes for education and healthcare instead accumulates offshore, blocking “dignified and sustained development of all social actors.”
This is doctrinally significant: Catholic teaching evaluates not only “rates,” but also whether the fiscal system functions truthfully for the common good or is distorted by evasion, exploitation, and corruption.
A recurring Catholic warning (here in Centesimus Annus) is that even in democratic systems, political decisions can drift into judging proposals by electoral or financial power rather than justice and morality—resulting in distrust, apathy, and an inability to coordinate interests under a coherent vision of the common good.
It clarifies that the common good is not “the sum total” of particular interests; it demands an integration guided by a balanced hierarchy of values grounded in human dignity and rights.
Thus, Catholic doctrine challenges both:
Catholic doctrine evaluates taxation through a consistent moral lens: