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Fuel tax increase is the fastest, most direct way to meet state transportation needs
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | January 8, 2018 | The Post-Dispatch Editorial Board

Posted on 01/25/2018 1:08:08 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

At a measly 17 cents a gallon, Missouri’s fuel tax is woefully inadequate to fund the state’s growing need for transportation-infrastructure improvements. The more the system deteriorates, the worse our state’s business climate will become. Gov. Eric Greitens could put some muscle into his determination to attract business and generate more jobs by embracing a long-overdue fuel tax increase.

The Missouri 21st Century Transportation Task Force, created by the Legislature and approved by the governor last year, proposes to boost the tax by a dime, and by 12 cents for diesel, which is only about half of what’s needed to meet annual road and bridge needs. Business leaders told the transportation task force that the state’s aging and dilapidated infrastructure is reducing safety and constraining economic development.

It’s been 22 years since the tax was last raised. Unsafe roads can and do cost lives. What does it take to make state legislators overcome their self-imposed, irrational ban on new taxes?

The American Society of Civil Engineers has given Missouri’s infrastructure a grade of C-minus, and the National Safety Council gave the state an F, ranking it last in the nation in preventable accidents.

The transportation department needs a fuel-tax increase of at least 20 cents a gallon to keep up with an estimated $825 million in unmet transportation needs. The last effort to raise money that got traction was a 2014 constitutional amendment to hike state sales taxes, with the funds going to transportation. A hefty 59 percent of voters rejected it.

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: Florida; US: Missouri; US: New York; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: asce; construction; dmv; energy; engineering; fueltax; funding; grades; hydrocarbons; incometaxes; indexing; infrastructure; maga; maintenance; missouri; nsc; opec; politicians; safety; spending; taskforce; taxcutsandjobsact; taxes; taxhike; taxreform; tcja; tolls; transportation; wishlist
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Editorial: Fuel tax increase is the fastest, most direct way to meet state transportation needs

1 posted on 01/25/2018 1:08:09 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Or you do what California does: increase the fuel tax and have that money funneled away from transportation needs.


2 posted on 01/25/2018 1:12:52 PM PST by CatOwner
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

"...transportation department needs a fuel-tax increase of at least $0.20 per gallon to..."


Why stop there, leftwingers?
Swing for the fences with a $2.00 per gallon tax.


3 posted on 01/25/2018 1:14:24 PM PST by Blue Jays ( Rock hard ~ Ride free)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; yldstrk; zerosix
How about the state Spends. Less. Money.

Missouri's gas is so much cheaper than Kansas'. If their gas gets up to Kansas levels I will have even less of a desire to go to Missouri.

4 posted on 01/25/2018 1:15:38 PM PST by KC_Lion (If you want on First Lady Melania's, Ivanka Trump's or Sarah Palin's Ping Lists, just let me know.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Baloney.

It goes into the general fund and the next day into a black hole.

Same with the toll money.

Ditto for the lottery money ‘earmarked’ for education.


5 posted on 01/25/2018 1:15:56 PM PST by Paulie (America without Christ is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

You heard it here first:

Illinois is planning a Bullet Train!


6 posted on 01/25/2018 1:32:27 PM PST by Scrambler Bob (All posts are /s, unless otherwise specified.)
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To: KC_Lion

Start the border war. Who wants go to Kansas?? Anyway it is interesting on State Line Avenue in KC, all the stations are in Missouri.


7 posted on 01/25/2018 1:32:27 PM PST by taterjay
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Watch it disappear into the politicians pockets!


8 posted on 01/25/2018 1:32:31 PM PST by W. (.44 Magnum. No further questions needed.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

No more Bike lanes, no more diverting funds for feel good crap and we can talk.


9 posted on 01/25/2018 1:38:29 PM PST by hadaclueonce ( This time I am Deplorable)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Always remember that politicians see you as a "nearly infinite taxable resource" aka a walking bag of money with a mouth.

It's a rare breed that even stop to think on how to save money vs how to get more money from the people.

10 posted on 01/25/2018 1:38:56 PM PST by prophetic (Trump is today's DANIEL. Shut the mouth of lions Lord, let his enemies be made the Cat Food instead.)
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To: Scrambler Bob

Illinois is already on the bullet train to bankruptcy.


11 posted on 01/25/2018 1:51:43 PM PST by jospehm20
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Remember the Tobacco Cancer settlement to compensate “victims”...?

In Los Angeles nearly all that money went to repairing SIDEWALKS.


12 posted on 01/25/2018 1:56:09 PM PST by gaijin
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

For those of you who are outside Missouri, the St Louis Post Dispatch is a very liberal newspaper in a very conservative state. They are always going to be for tax increases.


13 posted on 01/25/2018 2:07:58 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: prophetic

Politicians have at their disposal a deep toolbox of legislative fixes to overcome problems of urgent public need. They go by many names, but fall into only two categories. Taxation and prohibition. No other ideas ever get considered.


14 posted on 01/25/2018 2:17:27 PM PST by SoCal Pubbie
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

No it isn’t. Enough with the taxes.


15 posted on 01/25/2018 2:18:26 PM PST by I want the USA back (Doing more of what fails is the definition of liberalism and insanity.)
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To: KC_Lion
I totally agree with KS needing to lower the gas tax.

My only caveat is, I feel safer in most areas in JoCo, KS than most areas in KCMO!

16 posted on 01/25/2018 2:23:37 PM PST by zerosix (Native Sunflowers)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Raise the minimum wage then take it away by upping the gas prices!

EPIC SOCIALIST FAIL!


17 posted on 01/25/2018 2:31:11 PM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: CatOwner
There is no arguing California's guilt, every democrat from the kennedy wannabe goobernator on has stolen from the highways fund to pave over the deficit with a thin layer of misappropriation to hide what they pay for their socialist programs and gifts to illegals.

But hat what makes you think California is special in the practice, other than of course Moonbeam and the democrats shift into ludicrous mode buoyed by the Aztlanists in their party.

18 posted on 01/25/2018 5:17:07 PM PST by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Dear Post-Dispatch Editorial Board,

Please provide a graph of per capita (per taxpayer) MODOT expenditures, adjusted for inflation, from 1950 though the present.


19 posted on 01/25/2018 5:17:58 PM PST by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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To: Mastador1
Basing my opinion on experience only. Watched gas taxes increase in California while the roads (overall) have gotten worse.

I know there are other states with high gas taxes, but I can't speak to the quality of their transportation systems since I don't live there.

20 posted on 01/25/2018 5:30:23 PM PST by CatOwner
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