Dear Editor:
As a professional engineer and a member of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE), I'd like to express my support for Amendment 7 on the August ballot. Amendment 7 will provide a desperately needed increase in funding for our vital transportation system in Missouri.
Quality transportation is key to the economic success of the state of Missouri. Most, if not all, goods and services we rely on each day (including ambulance, police, and fire service) are delivered through our transportation network of roads, bridges, rails, airports and ports. By providing a quality transportation network, we can obtain those goods and services efficiently and cost-effectively.
Some have questioned the use of a sales tax for this purpose. The reality is that it costs money to build and maintain our roads and other transportation infrastructure. If we collect that money though tolls and/or gas tax increases, that additional cost will ultimately be paid by the consumer through increases in the cost of the goods. A sales taxes simply added that same cost to the item at the point of sale.
However, since this proposal was written to ease the impact on low-income households, those added costs are not applied to essential items like groceries, fuel, medicine, utilities, mortgage payments, education, and health care expenses.
To read why I and other professional engineers from around the state are supporting Amendment 7, please go to our website at www.MSPE.org.
I'm voting yes on Amendment 7 to fix our roads and I ask you to join me.
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Editor's note: The deadline for timely publication of comments related to Aug. 5 ballot issues has passed. The final batch of letters on these topics will be published through Monday. Feel free to leave online comments on our News Tribune editorials (labeled "Our Opinion") related to these and other issues.