JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A campaign to put Missouri’s new gas tax increase to a public vote has been tabled.
A conservative advocacy group pushed to put the tax hike to a public vote before Republican Gov. Mike Parson even signed it into law, with the hope that voters opposed to higher taxes would overturn it.
But Americans for Prosperity-Missouri Executive Director Jeremy Cady told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the effort just didn’t come together, the newspaper reported Monday.
“We were unable to get all the pieces to come together,” Cady said. “We’ll be looking at tax reforms the Legislature can take up that would remove the extra burdens lawmakers added by increasing the gas tax by 75%.”
The law will gradually raise the state’s 17-cent-a-gallon gas tax to 29.5 cents over five years, with the option for buyers to get a refund if they keep track of their receipts.
The first 2.5-cent increase is slated to take effect in October, which will bring the gas tax to 19.5 cents.
The money will be used for Missouri’s roads and bridges.
