The American Real Estate Association (ARA) is joining the Missouri Association of Realtors and a coalition of organizations opposing Amendments 4 and 5 on Missouri’s Aug. 4 statewide ballot.

Amendment 5 would authorize the state legislature to expand sales taxes to a wide range of goods and services without a public vote.

ARA said the measure could reopen the door to transfer taxes on home sales, impose new taxes on services and lead to combined sales tax rates that opponents warn could exceed 20%.

Results from the legislation would be higher costs for Missouri homeowners, homebuyers and the real estate professionals who serve them, according to ARA.

ARA said Amendment 4 compounds the risk by making it substantially harder for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot — the same process Missouri voters used to enact taxpayer protections in 2010 and 2016.

Taken together, the association said, the two measures would allow lawmakers to raise taxes while limiting the public’s ability to respond. ARA is urging Missourians to vote no on both.

“Missourians didn’t nickname this the ‘Everything Tax’ by accident,” said Jason Haber, c0-founder of ARA. “It would make owning a home more expensive and hand politicians a blank check to keep raising taxes with no vote and no limit. Agents see every day what a home means to a family, and we’re not going to stand by while Jefferson City makes that harder. ARA is proud to stand with Missouri’s Realtors to defeat both.”

According to Mauricio Umansky, co-founder of ARA, “Amendment 4 would make it far harder for citizens to fight back. That is a bad deal for hard-working agents and for every Missouri family trying to buy or keep a home. When Missouri’s Realtors stood up to stop it and asked for a national partner, ARA answered. We urge a no vote on both.”

ARA said its opposition is not a position on income tax policy but a defense of protections Missouri voters have already approved and of their right to decide future tax questions at the ballot box.

“We are thrilled to have the American Real Estate Association stand with us in this critical statewide effort,” Missouri Association of Realtors President Brian Jared added. “I have sold real estate in Missouri my entire career, and I know what Amendment 5 would mean on Main Street. It would raise costs every time someone buys or sells a home, add new taxes on the services families use, and hit seniors on fixed incomes the hardest, all without a vote of the people.”

ARA said it will support the campaign by amplifying the “no on both” message through its national platform and member network — helping mobilize real estate professionals across Missouri and providing financial support to the effort to defeat the measures.

Recent statewide polling has shown broad, bipartisan opposition to both amendments. ARA said its goal is to help ensure Missouri voters understand the measures before the Aug. 4 election.

This article was generated using HousingWire Automation and reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.

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