(From Missouri State Senate Candidate Ellen Nichols0Senator Jill Carter offered several explanations in an article posted on the Turner Report for why she did not fight to freeze property taxes in Jasper and Newton counties while every other Southwest Missouri Republican senator stood with homeowners and gave them the chance to vote on a freeze.
Each of her explanations deserves a direct, factual response. What follows is my point-by-point rebuttal, drawn from Senate procedure, the public legislative record, and the April 2026 vote.
1. She Only Consulted the People Who Benefit from High Property Taxes
Sen. Carter cites conversations with county commissioners, city administrators, and school budget directors as justification for her skepticism of the freeze. Those officials carry real responsibilities, and their concerns deserve to be heard. But local government will always find more it can do with more money — that is the nature of government.
The Legislature cannot rely solely on the voices of those who collect the taxes when crafting policy meant to protect the people who pay them. Missing from Sen. Carter’s account is any meaningful consultation with the homeowners, retirees on fixed incomes, and working families being priced out of their homes.
2. She Had Every Senate Tool Available and Used None of Them
Senator Carter has suggested she was unable to stop or improve the property tax legislation. The Senate journal tells a different story. Any senator can filibuster, demand answers from bill sponsors, or offer amendments. Senator Carter did none of these things.
2. She Had Every Senate Tool Available and Used None of Them
Senator Carter has suggested she was unable to stop or improve the property tax legislation. The Senate journal tells a different story. Any senator can filibuster, demand answers from bill sponsors, or offer amendments. Senator Carter did none of these things.
If she believed the bill was wrong for her constituents, she had the power to stop the process until she did. She chose not to. Additionally, any Senator can slow things down by requesting a reading of the bill or amendment being debated. Typically, reading the bill is waived but if just one Senator objects to the waving and requests the bill to be read, everything stops while the bill is read to the entire chamber.
The Senate journal is the permanent record. It shows every question asked, every amendment offered, every filibuster attempted. Sen. Carter’s name does not appear in the fight for Southwest Missouri homeowners.
3. A Freeze Does Not Stop Revenue Growth. It Provides Homeowners Certainty
In her explanation she claimed a property tax freeze would devastate local government revenue. This is not how a freeze works. New construction, home additions, and property sales all continue to generate growing tax revenue even under a freeze:
• New homes and commercial buildings are assessed at current market value.
• Additions and improvements trigger reassessment of the added value.
The Senate journal is the permanent record. It shows every question asked, every amendment offered, every filibuster attempted. Sen. Carter’s name does not appear in the fight for Southwest Missouri homeowners.
3. A Freeze Does Not Stop Revenue Growth. It Provides Homeowners Certainty
In her explanation she claimed a property tax freeze would devastate local government revenue. This is not how a freeze works. New construction, home additions, and property sales all continue to generate growing tax revenue even under a freeze:
• New homes and commercial buildings are assessed at current market value.
• Additions and improvements trigger reassessment of the added value.
• Property sales reset assessments to the higher sale price.
A freeze does not stop revenue growth. It stops punishing long-term homeowners for staying in their own homes while the community around them expands.
4. The Claim She Could Not Read the Bill Language Is Not Credible
Any senator who cannot obtain bill language has a simple remedy: filibuster and stop the process until it is provided. The Missouri Senate’s rules make this possible for any member. Claiming she lacked information she had the power to demand is, at best, an exaggeration of the constraints she faced and at worst, evidence that she does not fully understand the legislative tools available to her.
As mentioned above, any Senator can object to the wavier of the reading of the bill and the bill or amendment being debated must be read to the entire chamber.
5. A Cap Does Not Wall Off the State Tax Commission
Senator Carter has argued that a property tax cap would create a barrier to the State Tax Commission’s work. This is incorrect. A cap limits the rate of assessment growth on existing homes. It does not alter the Commission’s jurisdiction, its appeals process, its audit authority, or any of its core oversight functions. Conflating a cap on assessment growth with an assault on the Tax Commission obscures rather than clarifies the issue.
6. Every Adjoining County and Every Other SWMO Republican Senator Said Yes
All counties adjoining Jasper and Newton were given the chance to freeze their property taxes. McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Dade, and Barton counties voted overwhelmingly to do so on April 7. Every surrounding Republican senator fought for their homeowners. Other northern, mid-Missouri, and Southeast Missouri senators also settled for a property tax cap, but Senator Carter, chose not to join her fellow Southwest Missouri colleagues who are small-government conservatives and allowed their citizens to freeze their property taxes.
Every Republican senator in the southwest corner of our state fought for the property tax freeze except one. The homeowners in Jasper and Newton counties noticed.
7. Critics Said It Was Unconstitutional. The April 2026 Votes Proved Them Wrong.
One of Senator Carter’s central arguments was that the freeze was constitutionally unworkable and would never reach voters. That argument was rejected by the courts. County-level votes took place across Missouri in April 2026, and homeowners in neighboring counties are now receiving protection from runaway assessments. Jasper and Newton County homeowners are not because their senator did not fight for them.
8. The House Passed an Excellent Bill. The Senate Gave Homeowners a Watered-Down Version.
After the debacle of SB 3 in 2025, the Missouri House Special Committee on Property Tax Reform, chaired by Rep. Tim Taylor, produced House Bill 2780 this last session. This was an 87-page comprehensive reform package passed with bipartisan support after more than a year of public hearings. That bill included stronger ballot transparency requirements, general election restrictions on tax increase votes, commercial property inspection protections, and reigned in the unelected Tax Commission’s authority. It died in the Senate. The Senate passed SB1066 & SB1088 instead — measures most observers described as stripped of the structural reforms needed to reign in the Tax Commission and deliver real, lasting relief. Senator Carter now touts her vote for that watered-down result.
9. She Voted to Give $1.5 Billion to Billionaire Team Owners Who Then Left Missouri
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of Senator Carter’s record to reconcile with her claimed concern for Missouri taxpayers is her vote for the Show-Me Sports Investment Act, a package offering up to $1.5 billion in tax credits to the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals ownership groups. After the bill died in the 2025 legislative session, it was rushed through a special session. The Chiefs used Missouri’s offer as leverage to negotiate a better deal from Kansas then left anyway. During that special session, Senator Carter asked no questions, offered no amendments, and did not filibuster. It was the same pattern she followed on property tax reform, and she was not a first-year inexperienced senator.
5. A Cap Does Not Wall Off the State Tax Commission
Senator Carter has argued that a property tax cap would create a barrier to the State Tax Commission’s work. This is incorrect. A cap limits the rate of assessment growth on existing homes. It does not alter the Commission’s jurisdiction, its appeals process, its audit authority, or any of its core oversight functions. Conflating a cap on assessment growth with an assault on the Tax Commission obscures rather than clarifies the issue.
6. Every Adjoining County and Every Other SWMO Republican Senator Said Yes
All counties adjoining Jasper and Newton were given the chance to freeze their property taxes. McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Dade, and Barton counties voted overwhelmingly to do so on April 7. Every surrounding Republican senator fought for their homeowners. Other northern, mid-Missouri, and Southeast Missouri senators also settled for a property tax cap, but Senator Carter, chose not to join her fellow Southwest Missouri colleagues who are small-government conservatives and allowed their citizens to freeze their property taxes.
Every Republican senator in the southwest corner of our state fought for the property tax freeze except one. The homeowners in Jasper and Newton counties noticed.
7. Critics Said It Was Unconstitutional. The April 2026 Votes Proved Them Wrong.
One of Senator Carter’s central arguments was that the freeze was constitutionally unworkable and would never reach voters. That argument was rejected by the courts. County-level votes took place across Missouri in April 2026, and homeowners in neighboring counties are now receiving protection from runaway assessments. Jasper and Newton County homeowners are not because their senator did not fight for them.
8. The House Passed an Excellent Bill. The Senate Gave Homeowners a Watered-Down Version.
After the debacle of SB 3 in 2025, the Missouri House Special Committee on Property Tax Reform, chaired by Rep. Tim Taylor, produced House Bill 2780 this last session. This was an 87-page comprehensive reform package passed with bipartisan support after more than a year of public hearings. That bill included stronger ballot transparency requirements, general election restrictions on tax increase votes, commercial property inspection protections, and reigned in the unelected Tax Commission’s authority. It died in the Senate. The Senate passed SB1066 & SB1088 instead — measures most observers described as stripped of the structural reforms needed to reign in the Tax Commission and deliver real, lasting relief. Senator Carter now touts her vote for that watered-down result.
9. She Voted to Give $1.5 Billion to Billionaire Team Owners Who Then Left Missouri
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of Senator Carter’s record to reconcile with her claimed concern for Missouri taxpayers is her vote for the Show-Me Sports Investment Act, a package offering up to $1.5 billion in tax credits to the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals ownership groups. After the bill died in the 2025 legislative session, it was rushed through a special session. The Chiefs used Missouri’s offer as leverage to negotiate a better deal from Kansas then left anyway. During that special session, Senator Carter asked no questions, offered no amendments, and did not filibuster. It was the same pattern she followed on property tax reform, and she was not a first-year inexperienced senator.
The Bottom Line
Senator Carter’s explanations do not hold up. She had the filibuster and did not use it. She consulted tax collectors, not taxpayers. She mischaracterized how a freeze works. She voted for a $1.5 billion subsidy package. Every surrounding county voted for the freeze. The House passed a serious reform bill; the Senate watered it down.
I want to be clear: these are straightforward policy differences worthy of open debate. Senator Carter and I have honest differences of opinion on some important issues, and we have different instincts about how a senator should fight for her constituents. Those are exactly the kinds of differences that belong in the marketplace of ideas that are openly debated in the public square and decided by voters. Jasper and Newton County homeowners deserve a senator who will stand on the floor and fight for them. I will be that senator.
4 comments:
She should start things off with “Good evening boys and ghouls! ahahahahahah” IYKYK
Property sale amounts are not sent to the assessor. Millionaire Dr that thinks she looks out for us. Her husband was worthless Senator, she will be also
Ms. Carter has lost all connection with tax payers, can not read legislation, doesn't understand Senate processes, and she supports data centers. She needs to step away, save her marriage, and take a new path in life.
Great explanation of the process of how that bill got passed. Why did Sen? Carter not ask questions and make them read the bill if she didn't understand it? And why would she vote to give the sports teams all that money? I think Dr. Nichols would be for freezing property taxes and not voting for the $1.5 billion to sports owners.
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