A 23-member task force wants lawmakers to ask voters to approve a 10-cent increase per gallon in Missouri's fuels tax and a 12-cent increase per gallon of diesel fuel.
The recommendation is part of the 67-page report the task force submitted Monday to the General Assembly after holding 10 public meetings between June and December.
"One thing was clear," state Rep. Kevin Corlew, R-Kansas City, told a Capitol news conference Tuesday, "the people of Missouri are not satisfied with the state of our transportation system now. They believe that, although our Department of Transportation has done a good job of doing what they can in terms of maintaining and working with our transportation system, Missourians would like to see more of an optimal system, (to) be a real transportation hub" in the nation.
Corlew noted the proposed funding increases are in the fees paid by users and would increase MoDOT's funding for roads and bridges maintenance and construction by about $430 million a year - restoring the state to the buying power level the 17-cents-per-gallon fuels tax first had when it went into effect in April 1996.
"The same purchasing power that 17 cents had in 1996 is now only 8 cents," Corlew said, adding: "Ten, 15 years down the road, and as we get into the decades to come, we have to have more reliable, sustainable and diversified revenue streams to fund our transportation system."
Because the 1980 amendment to Missouri's Constitution requires the public to approve significant tax increases, the task force proposal would have to be approved in a statewide vote.
"We're going to make the case to Missourians that this is the way that we believe - based on our hearings - that we should move our transportation system forward," Corlew said. "At the end of the day, it will be up to the people of Missouri to decide. We're confident and hopeful that we can make the case to them of the need."
Corlew said most Missourians already "understand that we are low in terms of our motor fuel tax burden, (compared) to the rest of the country - we've got the fourth-lowest gas tax in America."
The state owns and maintains 33,984 miles of roads (seventh largest in the United States) and 10,394 bridges (sixth largest in the nation).
The report offers some suggestions, he said, with "many ideas we believe the Legislature can consider and begin to implement, to make sure that we have the kind of funding that a world-class transportation system needs," including alternate ways to pay for improvements to air, rail and water transportation, as well as bus services, biking and walking spaces.