Options for school-district revenue

Having already pushed property tax levies to, in some cases, Missouri's legal limits or, in other cases, to the limits of taxpayer approval, some school districts across the state are looking for other ways to fund their operations and capital improvements.

As a result, some state representatives are proposing two alternatives.

The measure has bipartisan support. State Rep. D.J. Davis of Odessa is a Democrat. The lead Republican sponsor is state Rep. Roy Holland of Springfield.

Here are the basics:

A district could ask voters for either an income tax or a sales tax, but not both.

The income tax would be a surcharge of 5, 10 or 15 percent on the amount of state income tax paid by taxpayers in the district. The sales tax could be up to 1 cent on the dollar.

A simple majority of votes cast would be required for passage, and the revenue would be earmarked for a specific purpose clearly identified on the ballot.

The tax would be collected for a maximum of three years. A full year would have to pass after expiration of the tax before a district could ask voters to consider another such tax.

Following a failed effort, district officials would have to wait at least 10 months before trying again.

Of course, many voters blanch at the mere mention of new taxes.

But this proposal makes sense because it gives local districts and the voters in those district full control of this fund-raising mechanism.

School districts are about the only taxing entity in Missouri barred from asking for a sales tax. Right now, the cost of taxable items purchased in Cape Girardeau includes a city, county and state sales tax.

And two cities in Missouri -- Kansas City and St. Louis -- already impose earnings taxes, a form of income tax, on those who work inside their city limits.

Again, for either of the proposed school-district taxes to be levied, local voters would have to give the nod. Representative Holland properly points out that this wouldn't even be a rational option for areas with little personal income or retail trade.

Several groups already have weighed in on the issue.

The Missouri Association of Counties opposes allowing districts to impose sales taxes but doesn't have a problem with allowing them to ask for income taxes. Obviously, county officials would be concerned that any school sales tax passed would affect county sales-tax collections.

Representatives of the Missouri National Education Association and the Cooperative School Districts of the Greater Kansas City Area testified in favor of the measure before the House Tax Policy Committee.

Pro or con, the issue comes down to this:

Shouldn't school districts be given the same opportunity to fund themselves as any other taxing entity in the state?

Before answering, consider that those districts currently are hamstrung in how they raise revenue, relying mainly on local levies, state funding and bond issues that require a supermajority for approval.