Should St. Louis Hike Taxes To Give Police A Raise?

ST. LOUIS, MO — In a little over a week, St. Louis residents will go to the polls to decide if police should get a raise paid for by a 0.5 percent sales tax, bringing the total sales tax in some parts of the city near 12 percent. Proponents say with St. Louis facing one of its worst years for gun homicides in decades, the city needs more police, as well as body and dash cameras. The money would allow officers to engage in community policing — rebuilding trust in communities that have lost faith in law enforcement — and it would make officers feel safer by putting two officers in every car. St. Louis County passed a similar proposition in April.

If passed, Proposition P is expected to raise about $20 in additional revenue and could pay for more than a hundred new officers, in addition to giving raises to those already on the force. But, being the second time in six months county residents have been asked to raise the sales tax, critics say not so fast.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura Jones came out against the proposal this week. “At times like these when our people are in the streets demanding justice, asking us to raise taxes is tone-deaf. Government should work for the people, not the other way around,” she said.

Others say the raise rewards police for bad behavior and the city should spend less on policing and more on schools, health care and affordable housing.

Thomas Harvey, director of ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy group, told St. Louis Public Radio that public safety is narrowly construed to mean police, courts and jails. "The experiences of our clients show that those system don’t help. They break up families. They separate mothers from children."

The vote will be held Nov. 7. Find your polling place here.

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