When lawmakers approved an increase in the gas tax last year, fuel cost about $2.75 a gallon but now, at the time the spike is being implemented, the price per gallon of gas has risen to $4.37, according to AAA.
“I voted against the fuel increase and I've done so consistently because the people in the state of Missouri had three different opportunities to vote on it,” said State Rep. Nick Schroer. “It was taken to the ballot three different times. They've voted it down overwhelmingly each time.”
As previously reported, the gas tax was approved by lawmakers last year to correct the state’s $825 million annual transportation funding shortfall over a five-year period.
The new law includes opportunities for Missourians to request an annual refund on the gas tax.
But Schroer thinks there are other ways to fix roads and bridges statewide.
“We passed the bill this year that allows Missouri and other state entities to use recycled asphalt shingles, recycled plastics and that has been able to help states like Texas or Illinois,” he said. “There are a bunch of states, Republican and Democrat, that have gone this route to rebuild their infrastructure in a fiscally responsible way.”
Schroer was among the Republicans who offered amendments to Senate Bill 262 when it was proposed by Sen. Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan).
“The leadership team neglected to bring up the bills because they did not want to have that discussion on the house floor,” Schroer told the St. Louis Record. “They did not want to talk about the polling numbers that show the people do not support this gas tax. So, they basically shut us off from having that debate on canceling out the gas tax and enacting a gas tax holiday.”
Schroer further opined that not all of the money raised by the increase in gas tax is going towards updating the state’s infrastructure.
“It's going to pensions,” he added. “It's going to the highway patrol and other entities. It's not necessarily purely allocated to fixing our roads and bridges. That's another slap in the face of the people in Missouri who want see these funds solely going to what we're proposing that they go to. When we see it was pushed through by a super-majority Republican party that voted to pass the highest tax increase in the state of Missouri, it's saddening to the people in Missouri. They thought they were voting in these fiscal conservatives.”