JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri needs to find $600 million to $1 billion a year for critical transportation needs, says a new report issued today by a bipartisan committee appointed by the former House speaker.
However, the committee, which wants the Legislature to craft a funding solution, did not take a stand on where to get the money.
The committee’s co-chairman, former state Sen. Bill McKenna, a Democrat from Jefferson County, said asking state voters to increase the state sales tax by a penny was his preference.
Such a move would produce $700 million a year and would be broad-based, simple to explain and could be dedicated to transportation, McKenna said.
House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, who accepted the report, said that rather than increasing taxes, he favored shifting money from “entitlement” programs, such as Medicaid, the health care program for the poor.
“We’re faced each year with an ever-increasing, bloating entitlement system,” Jones said. “I’d rather spend the money on education, roads and bridges and less on entitlements.”
“I do not want to increase the tax burden,” Jones said.
But a tax increase for transportation may be proposed in the Senate.
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, did not attend the speaker's news conference but said in an interview that he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment that would ask state voters to raise the sales tax for a specific time period.
His plan would include a specific list of highway and bridge projects to be funded. Also, part of the money would be earmarked for cities and counties.
“I’m trying to fine-tune it,” Kehoe said. “The good thing is, everybody’s trying to fund transportation.”
In addition to raising the sales tax, other options mentioned in the report include raising the state’s fuel tax or license fees.
The state fuel tax is 17 cents a gallon and was last raised in 1992. To address the shortfall, it would have to go up by 20 to 30 cents a gallon, the report says.
One problem with relying on the fuel tax, the report says, is that as drivers use more energy-efficient cars or drive less, they pay less in fuel tax.
Former House Speaker Steve Tilley, a Republican, appointed the committee, called the Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee on Missouri's Transportation Needs. Tilley is now a lobbyist for road-builder Fred Weber Inc., and Byrne and Jones Construction, both of Maryland Heights.
McKenna co-chaired the committee with former House Speaker Rod Jetton, a Republican. Jetton now does marketing for a civil engineering firm and is president of a new publication that plans to cover news in the state capital this session.
Jones, who is expected to be elected to a full term as speaker when the Legislature convenes tomorrow, said he will ask his transportation committee to review the report and come up with recommendations.
But he said he wants any funding package to shift money and tax liability around, not increase state revenue.
The House Republican Caucus supports “a more consumption-based tax system” that lowers income taxes and replaces the revenue with a higher sales tax, Jones said. As part of that package, money could be diverted to highways, he said.
