Missouri group proposes tobacco tax increase to help fund state transportation

A group has proposed bringing an initiative petition before Missouri voters that would raise the state tobacco tax--one of the lowest in the nation--and use the proceeds to fund statewide transportation.

MoDOT

The proposal, if approved by voters, would raise about the same amount of money statewide as a 3 cent per gallon fuel tax increase.  MoDOT estimates that the state needs about a 9 cent per gallon tax increase just to meet federal funding matches over the next several years and about a 25 cent per gallon increase to match the amount of state funding on transportation in the early 1990s.

A St Louis Post-Dispatch article on the proposal says:

The latest appeal for an increase in Missouri’s tobacco tax came Monday from an organization that has successfully fought to keep the state’s tax the lowest in the nation.

The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association filed two nearly identical versions of an initiative petition seeking a statewide vote to raise the tax on cigarettes to 40 cents a pack.

That’s a 135 percent increase, but it’s less than two other proposals being floated and more likely to win voter approval, the trade group says.

One of the group’s proposals could mean $800 million over a decade to be used for transportation funding, it says. Any measure would require a signature-gathering campaign before going before voters.

 

Image credit: Waiting for MoDOT by Zaskem, FlickR. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0