Pending $5 Billion Transportation Sales Tax Redrawing Missouri's Political Map

"With less than eight weeks until the August vote, supporters and opponents of Missouri’s proposed $5.3 billion transportation sales tax have spent this month frantically preparing their campaigns," reports Helling. 

"The early debate over the 10-year sales tax plan has deeply scrambled the state’s politics. Longtime friends are at war over the levy, while political enemies have uneasily agreed to work together on the issue."

Among the heavy political questions raised by the vote:

• "Will Democrats agree with labor and support the tax or join Jay Nixon and oppose it?"
• "Will rural Republican businesspeople side with anti-tax groups fighting the state’s largest-ever tax increase, or will they join with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry to back it?"
• "Will the state’s big-city mayors endorse the increase?"