The voters of Missouri will decide on Tuesday, Nov. 6, [2012] whether to pass Proposition B and raise the cigarette tax in our state from our current lowest in the nation 17-cents to 90-cents per pack. The national average state cigarette tax is $1.49.
Health care costs caused by smoking costs Missouri taxpayers 532 million dollars annually; that averages $565 every year for each Missouri household.
Fifty percent of the new tobacco tax revenue would go to fund local schools. Twenty percent would be dedicated to tobacco use prevention and tobacco cessation programs. Thirty percent would go to public colleges and universities statewide.
Proposition B would save millions in taxpayer dollars, reduce youth smoking, help smokers quit and reduce premature births.
Smoking in Missouri costs all taxpayers; it is time to allow the smokers to carry a portion of their load and free up funds for tobacco prevention, public schools and colleges. Please VOTE YES ON THE TOBACCO TAX (Proposition B) ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6.
Jim Blaine, MD, chair,
Missouri State Medical Associations Public Affairs Commission
Springfield, MO
The article, "Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette" appeared earlier this year in The Joplin Independent here.
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