Senators propose Mo. transportation sales tax

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers Tuesday proposed increasing the state sales tax by a penny for the next decade in order to raise money for transportation needs.

Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, and Sen. Ryan McKenna, D-Crystal City, introduced a proposal that would require voter approval to enact and to renew after 10 years. Supporters estimate it would generate nearly $8 billion over a decade and could support more than 250,000 jobs.

"It's the best time for the investment right now," said Kehoe, who previously served on the state's transportation commission. "Missourians are going to get a great value on construction work."

The senators and two Republican House supporters touted a sales tax proposal at a news conference near an ongoing road-widening project on U.S. Highway 50.

Kehoe said the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission would be asked to develop a list of specific projects and indicate how the new revenue would be spent before the measure appears on the ballot. If voters pass the tax, the commission would produce an annual report for the Legislature and governor.

Ten percent of the revenue would go to cities and counties for local transportation needs.

Missouri would freeze the gas tax rate and could not turn existing roads into toll roads. The sales tax would not be levied on medicine, groceries or gasoline.

"There's nothing tricky that we're trying to hide here. We're strictly trying to take monies needed for infrastructure investment and put them to work in our state so that we continue to expand," Kehoe said.

Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair, filed a version of the sales tax measure in the state House on Tuesday with more than a dozen co-sponsors.

There has been growing concern about funding for Missouri's transportation system. In 2006, then-Transportation Department director Pete Rahn said the annual highway construction budget would decline significantly by 2010 as bond payments for past projects came due. The funding decline was delayed because of federal economic stimulus money that was approved in 2009, but in the last year, the state's highway construction funding has fallen from $1.2 billion to less than $700 million.

A transportation task force said in a report released last month that Missouri should be spending an additional $600 million to $1 billion annually for transportation. The co-chairman of the task force is Bill McKenna, who is a former lawmaker, highway commissioner and the father of Ryan McKenna.

Last month, transportation commission Chairman Rudy Farber proposed a 1-cent sales tax increase and joined the lawmakers Tuesday. That proposal included setting aside $1 billion to add an eastbound and westbound lane on Interstate 70 between Independence and Wentzville with money also going to cities and counties and to the state for road, transit, rail, waterway, aviation and other transportation projects.

"Transportation is key," Farber said Tuesday. "It does two things: jobs and safety. And we need them both. We need to make sure that we do as well for the generation that follows us as the generation that preceded us."

Legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon this year also have indicated support for a bonding package that could pay for construction at state facilities and college campuses.

Nixon said continuing discussion about long-term transportation needs is important. However, he said he sees addressing the bond proposal this year and transportation needs next year. House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, is sponsoring a bonding proposal in his chamber. Jones said he is interested in both ideas but would like a sales tax measure to be revenue neutral.

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Transportation sales tax is SJR16 and HJR23

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Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov