Why did tobacco tax fail in Missouri?

[Conservababe]

Lost in the national attention of the senatorial race and stem cell research amendment was amendment #3. It was a proposal to raise taxes by four cents a cigarette. Some of the revenues collected was to go to smoking cessation education and health care of the uninsured;none being allocated to general revenue. Blah blah blah, you know the drill.

It was defeated by 51.5 to 48.5 percent. There was not much of a discussion of the amendment in my area in the media or local talk shows. Twenty-four percent of the adult population in Missouri smokes. I would venture to say that most smokers just assumed it would pass readily.

But, it did not pass and I'm trying to figure out why. Did voters reject another tax even though they have distaste for smokers? Did they not trust the state to spend the money wisely?

[Turbo Pig]

Personally, two issues had me voting no on it:

1) Only about 24% of the money from the River boats ever makes it to education, which is where we were guaranteed it would go. I am under no illusion that the pols would find a way to divert the money garnered from this tax into places it was not designated for.

2) More importantly, the tax is straight up social engineering. Anybody that voted yes on it can call themselves a true conservative.

[ByDesign]

I was surprised that CA's Prop 86 failed, i was braced for the new $7 pack reality - and seeing as how my fellow Californians (or psuedo-Californians, all the born and raised natives are leaving in droves) voted in all kinds of idiotic bonds.

Just like I was surprised when Meathead's propositions failed. We have enough loony liberals to pass them, but they always seem to fail. Wierd.

That's CA for ya - just when you think you have it figured out...

[erikm88]

I know for a fact that some of it went to the the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). I worked for a state agency at the time the money was being doled out, and my bosses were putting together technical proposals for network designs and what not (I worked for a non-profit statewide Internet Service Provider). I asked where we were getting funding and he said that we're getting part of the tobacco settlement....

How do you like them apples??

[Positive]

"But, it did not pass and I'm trying to figure out why."

The reason it didn't pass is there was another initiative on the ballot...one to raise the minimum wage. Passed with flying colors.

If people get a chance to vote themselves a pay increase they will...and the same people who run to the polls to get a wage increase are the ones who smoke...

[LSAggie]

Where did all that tax money from smokers go since the Tobacco Settlement came about?What is it being spent on in Missouri?????

In Missouri, it is just being used to balence the state budget.

[StarCMC]

Just more proof of the lies being told to get hands in our wallets, IMO.

[StarCMC]

In Missouri, it is just being used to balence the state budget.

Translation: it's being spent however the state wants to spend it. It's a blank check for them.

[chuckles]

I have traded MO stock and options for years now. The money that is extracted NEVER goes to what they say it does. It's just another tax. Smokers don't quit, and the money doesn't go to stop smoking programs or medical treatment. It usually ends up as a slush fund. The states that settled the court case with tobacco have now come to depend on the billions paid by tobacco. There was a chance MO would have been bankrupted awhile back and the states banded together to file a friend of the court brief IN FAVOR of MO. The money will run out some day and the states will have to raise money for potholes and schools from somewhere.

They are killing the goose that lays the biggest tax eggs in the US. Phillip Morris will just move overseas and sell to the Chinese and Arabs and the tax billions will dry up.

[pilipo]

We are bipolar here in MO, much like the US as a whole. When I moved here 3 years ago, I was mildly surprised at how willing these people are to ignore the obvious perils to their freedoms.

Nonetheless, how else do you explain voting for an increase in the minimum wage and against an increase in the tobacco tax.

The principles of freedom continue their slide into the abyss using the grease of convenience to expedite the matter.

[SheLion]

I know for a fact that some of it went to the the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). I worked for a state agency at the time the money was being doled out, and my bosses were putting together technical proposals for network designs and what not (I worked for a non-profit statewide Internet Service Provider). I asked where we were getting funding and he said that we're getting part of the tobacco settlement....

How do you like them apples??

I like it just as much as I did when I found out Maine is using the smoker's tax dollars to sponsor 5 race car teams in Maine and various tracks across the state!

And I was really steamed when I found out Maine had given cigarette tax dollars to an old woman in Ellsworth to plant a garden in the center of town!

Mass used $175,000 cigarette tax money to build a huge golf course.  That money was supposed to go to the kids and sick uninsured smokers should there be any.  But this money turned the lawmakers into gluttons.

Now that they have their pet programs established, they need more money to cover what the taxes were supposed to be spent for in the first place!

I know for a fact that some of it went to the the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). I worked for a state agency at the time the money was being doled out, and my bosses were putting together technical proposals for network designs and what not (I worked for a non-profit statewide Internet Service Provider). I asked where we were getting funding and he said that we're getting part of the tobacco settlement....

How do you like them apples??

I like it just as much as I did when I found out Maine is using the smoker's tax dollars to sponsor 5 race car teams in Maine and various tracks across the state!

And I was really steamed when I found out Maine had given cigarette tax dollars to an old woman in Ellsworth to plant a garden in the center of town!

Mass used $175,000 cigarette tax money to build a huge golf course.  That money was supposed to go to the kids and sick uninsured smokers should there be any.  But this money turned the lawmakers into gluttons.

Now that they have their pet programs established, they need more money to cover what the taxes were supposed to be spent for in the first place!

[SheLion]

In Missouri, it is just being used to balence the state budget.

All across the United States!  The lawmakers all try to use the cigarette tax dollars to balance their damn budgets.  Why don't they just cut spending?  Too easy I guess.  Just stick it to the smokers..............again!

[ridesthemiles]

Callers to a KC talk radio show overwhelming opposed the tax. Many thought it was bad policy to start taxing items that are deemed bad for you. As one caller stated, "Whats next? A tax on Crispy Creme Donuts?" The majority of those callers were non-smokers, also.""

I forsee the following "raxes" in the future:

1. Fat Foods-Fast food restaurants, etc. Ice cream, et al.

2. High heels- bad for your feet and your back, don't you know.

3. Tight clothes which cut off your circulation- see #1.

4. Anything which has some sort of gas which can be inhaled for mind-altering results. Even the cans of "air" for cleaning your keyboard is being misused in this manner.

5. Cans of spray paint because of the proliference of graffitti.

I'm sure there are many more items fellow Freepers can add to my list...

[ridesthemiles]

Because Stem cells will save us from lung cancer! McCaskill said so! (/sarcasm)""

Does this bimbo really believe that???

Kill one person to try and "save" a person who put themselves at risk their whole life???

[ridesthemiles]

I am a smoker and even if I wasn't, I do not support punitively taxing a legal product.""

I think alot of voters fit into that category. I certainly do. Make a 10-15 year phase out of smoking products if necessary, but don't punish users of a legal product.

Also, a tax should NEVER be a part of a state constitution.

[erikm88]

I am not a smoker, and I voted against it.

[listenhillary]

I was just being a smart*ss. But is is funny that the stem cell initiative passed and the tobacco tax failed.

[ridesthemiles]

I do not support punitively taxing a legal product.""

I also do not believe at all the statement that second hand smoke is the number ONE killer in the USA, much less the number 91 killer.
That is what was in the ads here in Nevada, where the recent influx of Kalifornia residents are making rules and laws all over the place to "change" Nevada and "educate" us hicks who already lived here.

[DumpsterDiver]

I was surprised that CA's Prop 86 failed,

So was I.

i was braced for the new $7 pack reality

I was considering going into the smuggling biz. (Another opportunity has passed me by!)

[Conservababe]

Me, I was going to 'roll my own' again and buy the tobacco from the Indians.

[Captain Marvell]

As a MO voter, I believe a lot of it was the simple fact that people are just plain tired of being told what they can or can't do because it is bad for them. Another reason is those that don't smoke all know someone who does. The smoker is usually in the lower income bracket, and the non-smoking voter doesn't want them to have to spend even more on cigarettes when they are already having trouble enough paying their bills. No one would have stopped smoking just because of a higher tax, and everyone knows it.