A meeting held by progressive organizations warned against a proposed elimination of the state income tax March 19 at The Joshua's House Church in Jefferson City. The meeting was one of eight held around the state as lawmakers were on legislative spring break (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
A coalition of progressive groups in Missouri is using the fight over a proposal to eliminate the state income tax to build a coordinated alliance that organizers hope lasts beyond any single legislative battle.
Led by 24 organizations, with more expected to join, the coalition held eight meetings across Missouri this month as labor, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy and faith groups tested a shared message against what they see as a growing list of threats from Republican lawmakers.
The meetings began March 12, the same day the Missouri House approved a constitutional amendment designed to eliminate the state’s income tax and replace it by expanding or increasing the sales tax on goods and services. If the amendment clears the Senate, it will go on the statewide ballot later this year.
“Organizing is how we win,” Drew Amidei, a regional organizer with Missouri Jobs with Justice, told a small crowd gathered in a Jefferson City church Thursday. “It is how we fight back.”
The meetings’ organizers have been working together for years but have only recently joined publicly as a “united front,” Progress MO spokesperson Claire Cook-Callen told The Independent.
“We come with various issue orientations, and we all have our own points of view,” she said. “Being united in a common message and a common framework for what we are fighting for is really exciting, and it just puts us all in that same path.”
DaVonna Williams, a spokesperson for Missouri Jobs with Justice, told The Independent that the partnership has years of history. The groups have sporadically partnered for “one-off” campaigns but are now joining together for a “long-term arc of work.”
The Jefferson City event was small, with just over 50 in attendance. In Kansas City, more than 200 people showed up, and the meeting in nearby suburb Blue Springs brought nearly as many.
The catalyst for this months’ meetings was the tax plan, Williams said, because it showed organizations just how “interconnected” their issues are.
“We really need to organize across issues,” she said. “What we are really trying to get people to see is that your fight is my fight, and we really cannot win without one another.”
That growing alignment was already on display in January, when hundreds gathered at the State Capitol for a “Stand Up, Fight Back” rally protesting a series of actions by Missouri lawmakers, including efforts to roll back voter-approved worker protections, put abortion back on the ballot and redraw congressional district boundaries.
“Folks are fired up,” Cook-Callen said. “We have been demanding these things, and (lawmakers) are trying to take away our power, and they’re pissed. They don’t feel like they’re being heard.”
This month’s meetings sought to channel that anger into something more durable. But in a state where Republicans hold a supermajority in the legislature and voters haven’t backed a Democrat for statewide office since 2018, building a lasting coalition will require more than protest energy and shared opposition.
To Amidei, lawmakers’ actions last year and ongoing proposals to switch up taxes are “part of a bigger plan to take away power from working people and from people with fixed incomes.”
“We are coming together because part of their plan is they think that if they can bankrupt our state, they will divide us and we’ll fight each other instead of coming together,” he said.
Michelle Trupiano, executive director of Beacon Reproductive Health Network, asked the Jefferson City crowd to imagine “a Missouri where people have the freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies, their families and their future.”
“It requires us to show up, to speak out, to organize, to vote, to hold leaders accountable and to build power together,” she said.
Each meeting left participants with various calls to action, such as writing letters to lawmakers, workers-rights demonstrations and signing up for canvassing opportunities.
“The point of some of this is to reach new people. We can’t keep organizing the same folks,” Williams said. “We are hitting the ground hard to try to grow our base so everybody knows about what is happening.”
Some of those who attended Thursday’s meeting were seasoned advocates who have already worked on initiative petitions and other organizing efforts. Others were new to the process and asked basic questions about the political process, concerned about how soon taxes could change.
Organizers are planning rallies and meetings into the summer.
“Frankly, everybody is under attack,” Williams said. “So the stakes are too high to remain siloed.”
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