We need to find a way other than a regressive tax, like sales tax, to fund these parks. The least likely to use them--the state's poor--are the most paying the greatest portion of their discretionary spending on the parks. We need to migrate this from a sales tax to either be paid for out of the general operating budget or through greater use fees.

Outside of St. Louis many lower income people use State Parks. One may even argue wealthy people dont use the park, they vacation in a resort/condo. 1/10 of a cent is not a burden. If you were to increase use fees then you would be prohibiting lower income residents use of the park.

As I'm often made fun of for pointing out that the author of the best book on US and Canadian National Parks was a huge supporter of the original tax and continues to support this renewal. The reasons are simple--if the money comes from general revenue, there simply isn't any money and even if there was, when politicians make decisions about parks and maintenance instead of experts on ecosystems and preservation you get budgets geared towards winning elections, not preserving the environment and providing quality recreational opportunities.

While the tax is regressive, it's also small, but provides Missouri with one of its few strong areas as a state, its parks.

And I'd agree strongly with John on the issue of the rural poor are significant users of state parks.