KCUR57%
Catholic bishops in Missouri join to argue Amendment 5's tax changes will hurt the poor 91%
By Libby Howell0%
7/23/2026, 1:41:08 PM
Keywords: Missouri Elections, Missouri, Taxes, Sales Tax, Income Taxes, Income Tax Cuts, Catholic Church
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Indoctrination, Loss Aversion, and Appeal to Emotion, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 46.8% saturation with 125 hits. Analysis detected 978 faulty-reasoning hits from 267 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 84.3% and a BS Rank of 91% (2,103 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 90.40% of the article peer group.
Missouri Catholic leaders are urging Missourians to consider how voting to eliminate the state income tax would affect the poor.
In a statement, the Bishops of the Kansas City, St.Louis, Jefferson City and Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese say passing Amendment 5 would likely burden social service agencies that serve low-income individuals.
Missouri Catholic Conference Executive Director Jamie Morris said he hopes the bishops' statement will help guide the Missouri legislature.
"Whichever tax system we utilize, remember the poor first and foremost and try to balance whatever system we come up with that it is not on the backs of those who are least able to pay for it."
Morris said.
Catholic Charities of Missouri declined comment, but the bishops' statement says the church believes, "those with greater resources bear a proportionately greater share of the public burden."
Still, Catholics and non-Catholics alike are questioning whether the church should get involved with politics.
Morris said the church was expecting some negative feedback, adding the statement was released as a reminder of the Church's values.
"The bishops maybe don't want to prescribe one particular vote yes, vote no, but want to adequately equip the faithful to kind of sit on this, ponder this, pray about this, and then go, 'okay, I can now make up my mind on how I'm going to vote on this particular amendment.'"
Morris said.
The statement points out sales taxes, which would likely be increased if the income tax is eliminated, "place a disproportionate burden on those with lower incomes."
Analysis
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