Greg Sharpe Warns Amendment 5 Could Be a “Tax Bait and Switch” for Rural Missouri
LEWIS COUNTY, Mo — Greg Sharpe, a Republican candidate for Missouri Senate District 18, joined the Lewis County Scoop for an interview focused on public schools, Amendment 5, agriculture, infrastructure, health care, data centers and the future of rural Missouri.
Sharpe, who has represented Missouri House District 4 since 2019, is running for the Senate seat representing northeast Missouri. He is one of the Republican candidates in the race, along with Ed Lewis and Dusty Blue.
A farmer from Ewing, Sharpe leaned heavily on his northeast Missouri roots during the interview. He was born in Quincy, Illinois, and has lived within about 20 miles of the Mississippi River his entire life. After graduating from Northeast Missouri State, he farmed in the Ewing area and spent 35 years selling seed for Pioneer Hi-Bred.
One of the first Lewis County issues raised during the interview was the gravel road near Highland High School and Highland Elementary. The road has been a longtime concern for local residents, parents and school officials.
Sharpe told the Scoop he has tried multiple times to secure state funding for the project through the budget process.
“I’ve put it in the last three years,” Sharpe said.
The proposal, according to Sharpe, involved roughly $2.4 million and would have helped create a state road around the school area, including near the daycare, Baptist church and the back side of Highland High School. He said former Gov. Mike Parson vetoed the funding and Gov. Mike Kehoe later placed it on a withhold list.
“I think that’s something that’s desperately needed,” he said.
The Ewing Republican said the issue shows how difficult it can be to get northeast Missouri projects funded at the state level. If elected to the Senate, he said he would continue pushing for local infrastructure needs that he believes have been overlooked.
Public education was another major focus of the interview. Sharpe described public schools as one of the main responsibilities of state government and said rural schools remain the center of many northeast Missouri communities.
“That’s our, as far as I’m concerned, main responsibility of the state government,” he said.
He voiced concern about the state not fully funding the school formula, saying that creates problems for superintendents and school districts trying to build local budgets. He also drew a distinction between traditional public schools and charter schools, calling charter schools “public schools without public rules.”
While charter schools may not be coming to northeast Missouri, Sharpe said they still matter because of the way education funding is discussed and divided in Jefferson City. Rural public schools, he added, are expected to serve all students, including those with disabilities and specialized needs.
“We dump an awful lot on our public school people, and we expect a lot,” he said.
The most detailed portion of the interview centered on Amendment 5, the proposed constitutional amendment tied to Missouri’s income tax and sales tax structure.
On Amendment 5 – “It’s a tax swap. It’s a tax bait and switch,” Sharpe said.
Sharpe opposes the measure and said he voted against it twice in the Legislature. In his view, supporters describe it as an income tax cut, but the proposal would amount to something different.
“It’s a tax swap. It’s a tax bait and switch,” Sharpe said.
His concern is that Missouri would have to replace billions of dollars in income tax revenue, much of which helps fund general revenue obligations such as public education. Sharpe warned that if the income tax is phased out, lawmakers would have to expand sales taxes to services and purchases that are not currently taxed.
“For the rural areas, I see nothing but red flags on this,” he said.
He listed several examples of services that could potentially be affected, including daycare, rent, farm rent, remodeling, roofing, car repairs, equipment repairs, trucking, chemical spraying, fertilizer spreading and custom combining.
In a farm-heavy district, those details matter, Sharpe argued. A shift toward taxing more services could affect farmers, small businesses, working families and retirees.
He also raised concerns about the Hancock Amendment, which has long limited the state’s ability to raise certain taxes without voter approval.
“We have to go to the voters,” he said. “And going to the voters is hard, and it’s intended to be hard.”
Sharpe said waiving that protection, even temporarily, surprised him coming from a Republican-led Legislature. He described Amendment 5 as a proposal that could lead to intense lobbying in Jefferson City as industries seek exemptions from future taxes.
If Amendment 5 passes, he said rural Missouri will need lawmakers willing to protect local interests during the next phase of tax discussions.
“I’m still urging people to vote against it,” Sharpe said.
“We have to go to the voters,” he said. “And going to the voters is hard, and it’s intended to be hard.” – Greg Sharpe
Health care also came up during the interview, including the direct primary care model now operating in Lewis County. Sharpe said he is personally a member of a direct primary care practice and believes the model can help restore a more local relationship between doctors and patients.
“I think it should be a wave of the future,” he said.
He said Lewis County has “hit a home run” with the model and believes the state should encourage, not discourage, similar efforts in rural communities.
Sharpe also pointed to rural housing as an area where the state can help small towns. He discussed work through the regional planning commission in Memphis and said state funding has helped support new housing projects in rural communities, including Lewistown.
As a member of the budget committee, Sharpe secured the $2 Million revolving fund that is being used to build these houses.
New housing has been difficult to develop in rural Missouri for years, he said. Projects that build on existing streets, sewer systems and vacant lots can help small towns grow while also creating movement in the local housing market.
“It’s good rural development,” he said.
When asked to choose one top priority in the state budget among schools, roads, health care, public safety and tax relief, Sharpe chose schools.
“The most important thing that we produce is children,” he said.
Roads came next on his list. He pointed to the need for continued investment in lettered routes, local transportation needs and major regional projects.
One of his biggest infrastructure priorities is a bypass around Hannibal. Sharpe said traffic moving through Hannibal creates safety and economic concerns, especially with vehicles traveling at highway speeds before slowing through town.
A bypass would help northeast Missouri, including businesses that depend on truck traffic, he said. He also pointed to dairy-related truck traffic moving through Hannibal as an example of why the project matters.
“That’s one thing I really want to see get done,” he said.
Agriculture remained a central part of the conversation. Sharpe described himself as a corn, soybean, cattle and hog farmer and noted that he served on the Missouri Soybean Board for 15 years. He said soybeans remain Missouri’s largest row crop by acreage and that agriculture must remain a major voice in Jefferson City.
Sharpe said he has been endorsed by Missouri Farm Bureau and by the Missouri Soybean Association and expects other agricultural organizations to continue making endorsement decisions in the race.
Sharpe is also being endorsed by the Missouri Fraternal Order Of Police.
Near the end of the interview, Sharpe made his case directly to voters. He said his experience in agriculture, business and the Legislature has prepared him to represent the district.
“In this race for northeast Missouri, I think I’m the best choice,” Sharpe said.
Sharpe encouraged voters to participate in the Aug. 4 primary and said Amendment 5 will likely drive more attention and turnout than a typical August election.
The interview is part of the Lewis County Scoop’s effort to provide voters with direct access to candidates running for public office. The candidate and campaign did not pay for the interview, and publication of the interview does not constitute an endorsement.
