No U-Turn: Stouffer Won't "Shy Away" From Fight For $7.2 Billion Sales Tax Increase
At a campaign stop in Jefferson City today, State Sen. Bill Stouffer tried to make his case for why voters should vote Ike Skelton out of office and pick him instead. Jason Rosenbaum has video of Stouffer answering tough questions from the media -- the first of which concerned Stouffer's previous support for a $7.2 billion sales tax increase to rebuild Interstates 70 and 44.
For a man presenting himself as a candidate like the American revolutionaries "clinging to their Bibles and guns" in a battle against "big government," this could present a problem.
Stouffer expressed confidence voters wouldn't be bothered by the issue. He may be right, but I tend to think that voters will have a hard time reconciling his over-the-top anti-government rhetoric with articles or editorials like this one (emphasis added):
Editorial: A super(highway) bad idea
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
August 27, 2006 SundayMissouri legislators are floating a $7 billion plan to totally rebuild Interstates 44 and 70 into eight-lane superhighways across the state. They would have taxpayers fund it with a 1 percent boost in sales taxes. This is such a terrible idea, it's difficult to know where to begin. But we'll try.
The sales tax is the most regressive way to raise money. It falls harder on the poor because they pay a greater percentage of their income on the necessities of life. What with state, regional and municipal sales taxes, the overall sales tax rate exceeds 8 percent in some parts of the state. [...]
The man behind this unfortunate plan is Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, whose district straddles I-70 west of Boone County. He and other Senate and House members are talking up the idea among Missouri business groups. [...]
To raise $7 billion, Missouri's current 17-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax would have to go to 44 cents to raise as much as a 1 percent sales tax levy.
Or this one:
I-70, 44 revamping doesn't resonate in Senate
The Kansas City Star
February 23, 2007 FridaySome Missouri lawmakers were underwhelmed Wednesday by an ambitious plan to remake Interstates 70 and 44 into eight-lane highways with designated truck lanes.
Question also arose about how the state would pay for it.
Sen. Bill Stouffer's $7 billion proposal would put heavy truck traffic in four center lanes, add four outer lanes for all other vehicles and separate them with grass medians.
Stouffer, a Napton Republican and head of the Senate Transportation Committee, has proposed a 1-cent sales tax for 10 years to pay for the project. Stouffer said it was possible private interests may start a petition drive to put the issue before voters. [...]
Sen. Matt Bartle, a Lee's Summit Republican, said polling showed Missourians were staunchly against using a sales tax to fund roads. [...]
Bartle said Stouffer's plan was a Cadillac proposal. Bartle asked whether there was a Pinto approach....
It's also disappointing to see that Stouffer is repeating the completely false assertion that the Waxman-Markey cap and trade legislation will cost the average family $1,700 every year.
