How Much Do Taxes for Transportation Cost You?
On April 6, St. Louis
County voters again get to vote for a sales tax to help
support public transportation in the metropolitan region
(Metro St. Louis).
The Proposition A sales tax increase will be
an additional 0.5% sales tax of all retail sales in St. Louis County which
will also trigger an additional 0.25% sales tax to be charged in St. Louis city.
Some people think, "Why should I pay
an additional tax for public transportation?" The answer is simple, because it
is a cost effective way to benefit the whole metropolitan area, including your
employer, and your community. The first priority of the initiative is to return
both the Metrobus routes and the Metrolink schedule to the level they were
running at in the beginning of 2009 after the first vote failed and services
had to be cut.
If you say "I do not use public
transportation; I drive everywhere and I don't have to pay taxes on that",
the answer is,
oh yes you do! Missouri charges 17 cents of sales tax on every gallon of gas
you purchase, most of which goes to MODOT to maintain the roads throughout the
state.
Let's see how much you spend just on the Missouri gasoline tax to maintain
our roads versus how much
Proposition A would cause you to spend in additional sales tax.
There is already a smaller 0.25% sales tax in effect funding the
current Metrobus and Metrolink system, so I have included that as well to show
what the total sales tax you are spending on mass transit is compared to just
what you are spending in gasoline tax to fund MODOT's trucks and road crews.
If you would like to become more involved in supporting mass transit in the
St. Louis area, visit the
Citizens for Modern Transit website too.
* = Remember the sales tax is only on purchases made at retail establishments
in St. Louis County and City. Most direct monthly payments (mortgages, loan
payments, insurance payments, etc.) are not taxed and neither are many
directly paid services.
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