JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association (MPCA) Executive Director Ron Leone presented “Transportation Funding: Tobacco & Motor Fuel Taxes” at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Missouri Conference on Transportation.
Leone shared the association’s support for a gas tax and an initiative petition (IP) currently circulating, which would bring in $256 million per year total in new funds for infrastructure.
The IP, if successful, will bring in $100 million per year by placing a tax on cigarettes. The revenue is equal to a $0.025 motor fuel tax increase.
Additionally, the fuel tax MPCA supports will bring in an additional $156 million per year. For each penny in tax per gallon, $39 million per year is generated in revenue. That tax would distribute 70% to the state, 15% to the counties, and 15% to the cities. The proposed tax is $0.04 per gallon.
Leone said that the association supports a uniform tax across motor fuel types.
“MPCA believes that all motor fuel – natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, electric – should be taxed uniformly, consistently and at the same exact rate as gasoline and diesel,” Leone said.
Further, the association is opposing open or closed toll roads, automatic cost of living analyses (COLAs), sales tax on motor fuel, and privatizing rest areas.
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
