Missouri voters soundly rejected a proposition to boost fuel taxes and sales taxes in order to pay for road work.
Proposition B would have raised the state tax on gasoline and diesel by 4 cents, from 17 to 21 cents per gallon.
The measure would have been the first increase for roads since 1992, when lawmakers approved a phased-in 6-cent fuel tax hike. It would have generated an estimated $364 million for state roads and bridges in the first full year, as well as money for public transit, rail, ports, airports, city and county roads, and incentives for ethanol and biodiesel producers.
The state’s budget for road construction will fall from more than $1 billion now to about half that by 2004 as the state runs out of bonds to issue and begins debt payments. New construction will all but grind to a halt, says the state Transportation Department, leaving the state only enough money to try to maintain the current system.
Lawmakers say it could be years before lawmakers try to roll out another tax increase for roads.
Proposition B would have raised the state tax on gasoline and diesel by 4 cents, from 17 to 21 cents per gallon.
The measure would have been the first increase for roads since 1992, when lawmakers approved a phased-in 6-cent fuel tax hike. It would have generated an estimated $364 million for state roads and bridges in the first full year, as well as money for public transit, rail, ports, airports, city and county roads, and incentives for ethanol and biodiesel producers.
The state’s budget for road construction will fall from more than $1 billion now to about half that by 2004 as the state runs out of bonds to issue and begins debt payments. New construction will all but grind to a halt, says the state Transportation Department, leaving the state only enough money to try to maintain the current system.
Lawmakers say it could be years before lawmakers try to roll out another tax increase for roads.
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