by State Rep. J. Eggleston
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Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of reports on the upcoming November ballot measures, and this one on Proposition D is about the gas tax.
Currently, 17 cents of every gallon of gas and diesel you buy is state fuel tax collected for MoDOT, and an additional 18.4 cents (24.4 cents for diesel) goes to the federal government. For now, the feds provide a 4-to-1 match on some of this state money, giving us back what we put into the federal gas tax and then some.
All of this, plus license and other fees, generate the $2.46 billion dollars that MoDOT currently spends each year on our roads, bridges, river ports, rail, airports, sidewalks, bicycle paths, and Highway Patrol. About 1/6th of that ($422 million) is given to city and county governments for their local projects.
Passing Prop D would increase the state fuel tax from 17 cents to 27 cents per gallon incrementally over four years. This additional dime per gallon is expected to raise an extra $288 million for MoDOT and $124 million for local governments. For a variety of factors, this amount would not likely produce any additional money from the feds.
You may hear something about the Highway Patrol associated with Prop D. The Highway Patrol is funded with fuel tax money. Prop D would earmark the money generated by the extra 10 cents per gallon to directly fund the Highway Patrol, thereby freeing up money that used to go to the Highway Patrol to be used by MoDOT. The Patrol would see little change in their funding.
You may also hear something about Olympic medals. The passage of Prop D would say that Missourians who win medals or prizes in the various Olympic games would not have to pay income tax on those awards. This was actually the purpose of the bill (HB1460) that put Prop D on the ballot. The bill was not originally intended to be a ballot measure or have anything to do with fuel taxes. A St. Louis area senator added that provision to the bill as a last minute amendment.
Also added would be the creation of the Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund, which would fund projects like widening I-70 between Kansas City and St. Louis. The money for this fund would likely come from general revenue, not the fuel tax.
A group called SaferMo.com has started to advertise for Prop D. This group has raised over $1.4 million, mostly from the construction companies that hope to profit from the infrastructure work, to promote the passage of Prop D. You can expect to start seeing advertisements funded from SaferMo.com soon. Several state and local government officials are also in favor of Prop D since it would help fund their transportation ideas and needs.
A couple years ago, a sales tax proposal for transportation failed at the ballot, but that may have been because it was a sales tax and not a fuel tax. Most agree that fuel taxes are a better way to fund roads than sales taxes or other mechanisms. But ultimately, Prop D will likely pass or fail depending on whether voters trust that they will receive improved roads for their money.