Posted on 11/10/2006 6:34:38 AM PST by 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?
I have a machine and the tubes, but I have yet to find a tobacco that I like. A few months ago I went to my favorite website to order some tobacco and got this:
Please note that as of Tuesday, March 14, 2006 New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has forced us to close our Internet Smoke Shop.
Thanks for the ping!
You can be snotty all you like. I smoke, and I am stockpiling my freezer with cigarettes, and will go out of state, even if it costs me more in gas money to do it just out of principal. I live smack dab in the middle of the state, so I'm at least 6 hours from any state lines.
I pay school taxes on my property-Now I'm expected to pay 712 dollars in taxes on cigarettes, and my big property tax decrease that was touted here in Texas was 42 dollars.
I tried that, too a few years ago..Even stuff that was supposed to be blended to taste like my brand was too harsh for me..
Try putting an apple slice in the tobacco to keep it moist and to sweeten the flavor.
It's sad how tax decreases never seem to materialize, but tax increases always do.
The "urban" vote was key to the Dems victory and many many of these voters are both poor...ish and smokers. This is exactly who this tax will impact most. If you combine those voters with those who reflexively oppose any tax(ME!) you have enough to kill this.
Maybe, but I just don't fall in with that assumption that the majority of smokers are poor.
I don't smoke and frankly don't mind jacking the tobacco tax...via legislation. I voted against Amendment 3 because it shouldn't be part of the constitution. Pretty simple really.
Of course, the fact that government-paid health care only drives up the cost of care for everyone and the fact that you can't trust the government to use the taxes as they're supposed to only reinforced my NO.
Come on, walk through a wealthy neighborhood and count the people smoking, then come down here where I live and do the same. Some things don't take a multi million dollar study to figure out. I am a smoker and don't consider myself poor. Let me point out also that "urban" is "not only" poor and poor is an unfair description as many who are in lower income brackets don't qualify as "poor". Right now I qualify as "lower income" while I am unemployed. If you want statistics I'll try to dig them up for you.
I voted against it because it's just another tax designed to increase the government's role in our lives. I'm sure that the money would've been used wisely and as the state promised. After all, they did such a great job with the lottery and gambling money for schools.
We actually did get tax refunds in Missouri several years in a row. Hancock amendment I think it was.
I'm still trying to figure out why the marriage ammendment failed here in Arizona.
Are we talking about MO or TX? I thought this was started about the stupid MO Amendment 3 vote.
I apologize to you, as I now guess you were talking about TX.
Wish I could say that for Arizona. Not only did we get an 80 cent increase, we got a smoking ban thrown on top of it.
Damn Kalifornicators and Michigan 'snowbacks' are bound determined to turn this state into the places they left.
Methinks we're guarding the wrong border.
Thanks for all your input. I am now convinced that the voters in the Show Me State rejected the tobacco tax because they did not trust their state government to use the taxes as stated on the ballot.
I hope this is a warning to future ballot initiatives that want to raise taxes.
No apology needed. Zeugma and I are both in Texas where cigarette taxes are increasing by a dollar a pack on the first of the year. The current tax is 42 cents, so it will be $1.42 cents per pack in taxes.
I remember going to MO to buy liquor because it was so much cheaper, then driving around before crossing State Line so the cops wouldn't stop me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.