KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas is eliminating its sales tax on groceries.

Will Missouri shoppers take their business across the state line to save money?

The state’s tax on Kansas food sales was 2%.

In Missouri, the food sales tax is 1.225% on take-home grocery food items and the revenue it generates primarily supports public schools.

Local governments levy sales taxes on groceries, potentially increasing the total tax rate up to 8%.

The Missouri Department of Revenue has an online tool that shows the full tax breakdown.

A bill to end the grocery tax in Missouri stalled in the legislature last year, with lawmakers citing lost revenue and confusion on how money from the tax would be made up.

“Frankly, I’ve lived in a couple of states where they didn’t have sales tax on food and it always works out better,” said Marcus Moses, a shopper in south Kansas City. “Oh yeah, it’s going to affect how I shop. I’m going to spend a lot more time in Kansas buying food than in Missouri.”.

Grocery store operators are paying close attention to what happens when the Kansas sales tax goes away.

“It’s important to shop in Missouri, to support your state and support your stores, but I also think the store needs to do their job too to keep the customers shopping,” said Moe Muslet, who oversees Farm Fresh Market in south Kansas City. “I mean they’re looking for value, so we need to offer them value or they’re going to go somewhere else.”

Muslet knows his customers want the best deals.

“Us opening this store, we knew it was going to happen and we planned on it already, he said. “Our prices are aggressive, offering good products at good prices, nice customer service, and a store. They’ll continue shopping here.”

One couple said it’s not likely they will change where they shop.

“Where you used to go the store for $35, now it’s $60 or $65,” said Louise and Jimmy Clossick as they shopped Tuesday night. “Grocery prices are going up, so you do watch for bargains or sales. Does it make a difference in where we shop? Probably not that much; it’s more of a convenience for us.”

Jack McCormick

Gas prices will keep one Missouri shopper in the state.

“It costs more in gas to get over there and back,” Jeremy Coleson said. “And time. Time is probably the most valuable.”

Kansas officials estimate the elimination of the tax will save about $500 a year for a family of four.

Muslet says he has a plan to stay competitive at his store.

“Lowering margins, lower our margins so we are losing a little bit here, but we will gain it with increased sales we are hoping,” he said. “I don’t think the sales tax will compete with our store much, but I think their stores will.”

COLUMBIA — Minimum wage in Missouri will increase by more than a dollar on Wednesday after voters passed Proposition A by a significant margin in November.

Minimum wage will increase to $13.75 from $12.30, and some employers will also be required to provide their employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. 

Proposition A will increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

Some businesses in Columbia say this increase will have an impact on employees and business owners alike.

People in favor of the proposition believe it is a step in the right direction toward giving minimum wage workers a more livable income. However, people against say it will cause another spike in prices.

“Inflation on food products are through the roof — we’re still at 10-to-12% price increases,” said Buddy Lahl, the CEO of the Missouri Restaurant Association. “Adding additional regulations is going to, in turn, continue to add increased prices onto consumers.” 

Lahl also believes the mandated paid sick leave could deprive workers of other benefits. “Typically employers provide vacation days and health insurance and then you’d get to sick pay. This is mandating sick pay in front of health insurance and I’m not so sure that’s the right thing to do.” 

A manager at Hitt Mini Mart said business owners can prepare for the wage increase to help keep costs down.

“The best thing that most businesses can do is try to give out deals as much as possible,” Patel said. “Yes, I know prices are going to rise and it will be tough for some people to adjust to the new prices, so the best thing I can do is try to get a deal for them.” 

With basic necessities becoming more expensive, experts say higher wages for Columbia residents will go a long way toward keeping the pantry full.

“Currently in 2024, a full-time minimum wage worker earned less than $500 per week,” said Richard Von Glahn, the political director at Missouri Jobs with Justice. “That is not enough to survive in any county in this state. Those rising prices are actually why raising the minimum wage is so important to begin with.” 

NASHVILLE – It takes a special team and group of players to win games the way the Missouri Tigers did game after game. Regardless of which side of the ball was on the field or which players were playing, Missouri displayed a clutch factor late in games like no other.

Watching linebacker Corey Flagg and safety Daylan Carnell seal the deal for the Missouri Tigers with a miraculous fourth-down tackle to win another one-score game wasn’t surprising. The Tigers made plays like the fourth and one tackle all season on both sides of the ball to ensure victories, featuring 30-yard touchdown runs, a scoop and score touchdown and more.

The Tigers made these clutch plays all season long. Those very plays helped Missouri win six one-score games, including its win over Iowa in the Music City Bowl. There was no finer way to conclude a 10-2 season chock-full of adversity with another hard-fought win and that’s exactly what Eli Drinkwitz’s team did.

There’s plenty one could attribute to Missouri’s consistent grittiness and ability to fight back but, unsurprisingly, Drinkwitz found and rolled with words from well-known philosopher Henry David Thoreau. To say the least, there might not be more applicable words for this exact team.

“All endeavors call for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hour’s toil,” Thoreau said. “The fight-to-the-finish spirit is the one characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers.”

Those words from Thoreau were instilled into his team, giving the Tigers another motto to play by. It definitely applies to more than just football and there’s no doubt it applied to Missouri’s bowl game victory.

“There are a lot of people that start things in life, but they don’t finish,” Drinkwitz said. “If you’re going to be a person of significance, if you’re going to be the best at whatever you do, you have to have a finisher.”

Being able to finish close games in the fourth quarter, at this point, is a staple for the Missouri Tigers. A win over the Hawkeyes in the late stages of the game gave the Tigers its sixth one-score victory of the season. More in this game than others, finding a way to win was drastically important.

“It’s just something that we talk about start fast, finish strong all the time as one of those things that’s important in our program, and I just felt like these seniors had come this far,” Drinkwitz said. “We just needed to finish. Boy, they did in the fourth quarter today.”

Missouri’s ability to win games in the same close manner over and over again goes beyond playmaking and physical traits, to an extent. Drinkwitz commonly speaks about belief as a common factor throughout the locker room. That belief is at its highest when the Tigers find themselves in dire need scenarios at the end of games, most of which ended as wins.

“I think it’s belief in each other, belief in what we’re doing,” Drinkwitz said. “We prepare really hard for these moments.”

There are no doubts that the Tigers had full faith in quarterback Brady Cook against the Hawkeyes. In arguably his best performance of the season to close out his career, Cook threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns, adding 54 yards on the ground. He did whatever was necessary for the Tigers to win today, the last game and just about every game he played in a Missouri uniform.

“I think there’s always belief in our quarterback and Brady [Cook] because you look back a couple of years ago and maybe it didn’t go our way, but he never flinched,” Drinkwitz said. “He never changed. Just kept trying. He kept going back out there.”

On the field, the Tigers made the necessary plays down the stretch in order to win this game. It’s no secret that Drinkwitz drills the “elite edge” concept into his players and that message remained the same against Iowa. The ability to be more physical and tougher than its opponents in the fourth quarter is a choir Drinkwitz preached to all season long.

“We truly believe in faster, stronger, tougher than you in the fourth quarter,” Drinkwitz said. 

Cook wasn’t the only player on the field with belief thrown in his direction. Pass rusher Johnny Walker Jr., played his most disruptive game of the season, proving to be old reliable for Drinkwitz when a big play was needed.

“Then you flip it on the other side of the ball, you look at a guy like Johnny Walker,” Drinkwitz said. “You have to get to the quarterback, man, just call Johnny. He’ll get there.”

This Missouri Tigers team surely gave its fanbase 10 entertaining, stressful and memorable games that will not be forgotten, with a roster that did everything they could to ensure the final result wasn’t defeat.

Sure this team was talented, skilled, poised and whatever other adjectives you could use for a good football team. The belief they had in one another, however, to tramp the last mile and fight to the finish in six gritty wins, will be what’s remembered about this team.