( KTRS ) Voters in Missouri’s two biggest cities will decide Tuesday whether to renew the decades-old earnings tax that voters overwhelmingly embraced five years ago.

The tax requires those who work in Kansas City or St. Louis to pay a 1 percent tax on their pay.

Supporters in both cities say losing the revenue would mean cuts in services including police and fire protection, road upkeep, trash pickup and criminal justice. Opponents say the tax is unfair and drives businesses and workers to the suburbs, and that eliminating it would force the cities to weed out fraud, waste and redundant services.

Voter rejection of the tax would phase it out over a decade by one-tenth of a percent each year. Opponents say that would give cities enough time to find ways to compensate.