MO Parks and Soils up for vote August 8th

Missouri's Parks and Soil Tax is up for a vote in the elections being held across the state Tuesday, August 8th, 2006. The vote will determine whether the existing tax is extended for another 10 years.

It will be listed on the ballot as "Amendment 1".

The tax provides 75% of total funding received by state parks, including the Katy Trail State Park, and helps do things like build and mountain biking trails in state parks.

Because this tax is so important for providing funding for trails in state parks, including the Katy Trail, MoBikeFed has endorsed Amendment 1 and recommends that bicyclists and trail supporters across the state vote in favor of Amendment 1.

According to a Columbia Missourian article:

Parks-and-soil tax?

If we were to receive an itemized list of the sales tax we pay every time we buy something in Missouri, it’s hard to imagine a more obtuse line on the receipt.

But fans of the statewide tax that generates about $82 million per year say it’s crucial to two of Missouri’s largest industries: tourism and agriculture. If we didn’t pay the extra penny on every $100 we spent, they say, our state parks would be in disarray and the soil that makes our farms so productive would simply wash into and pollute our creeks and rivers.

The tax — one-tenth of a cent on the dollar — has existed since 1984 and provides much of the money used to maintain and operate our state parks. And it’s the primary source of cash for soil-conservation projects that have spared farmland in a state where annual soil erosion once ranked second in the country.

Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman is so convinced these efforts are important that he’s voluntarily chairing a statewide committee promoting a proposed renewal of the tax, which appears as Amendment 1 on the Aug. 8 ballot. Even Bill Samuels, one of the most ardent foes of sales tax you could find in Boone County, thinks this one is good enough to vote for. Still, there are those who argue it’s so much of a burden on the poor that the state should find another source of cash.

Please remember to vote in the primary elections Tuesday. "I bicycle and I vote!"