WOW…..this woman really believe that there is a need for a $1 increase on a pack of cigarettes? A 588% increase? Even her proposal of a $.12 increase is a 70% Bump. Again I say…WOW.
By comparison, Missouri GAS tax is also only $.17 and that funds the roads in the State.
What is really scary is that Ms. Still is going to create a stir with the noise on HB342, that no one will notice as they quietly pass HB 343 behind the scenes. Then if HB 342 passes….its all gravy (which leads to obesity…we should tax it).
Still offers proposals for cigarette tax rate
Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, today filed two bills aiming to raise Missouri’s cigarette tax.
Missouri’s cigarette tax of 17 cents per pack is the lowest in the nation,
“While a majority of states have acted aggressively in recent years to increase cigarette taxes and reduce the number of their residents who smoke, Missouri has chosen to do nothing,” Still said in a news release. “Missouri has won the race to the bottom simply by standing still. It is well past time for the state to move forward on this issue.”
One proposal, House Bill 342, would increase the tax to $1.17 a pack, Still said. An increase of that size would require voter approval. The other, House Bill 343, would add 12 cents to the tax and would not have to be submitted to voters, she said.
If they genuinely cared about health issues and were an absolute authority (which essentially they are) then they would just say "Smoking is illegal. End of story." Right?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what they did with cocaine and opiates, or, I don't know...cock-fighting?
On the other hand, if you are just a money-grubbing politician, you would allow the product and figure out a way to make money from it.
I mean, think about their other moral stances. They aren't taxing abortions to discourage them. They don't tax smoking pot. They don't tax (per se) strip clubs. There's no internet porn tax.
It's not really a "sin" tax so much as a "really convenient way to generate revenue from people who can't help themselves" tax.
Why do they even need to tax cigarettes? They got billions and billions and billions of dollars from the tobacco companies under a settlement negotiated during Clinton and a Republican Congress. Part of the deal was they agreed to prevent the consumers who actually used the products and got cancer from ever suing. They traded our rights for money, unapologetically. They didn't create a fund to give to people with lung cancer, as would have happened in a class action suit.
Instead, they (the states) simply took the money for themselves to spend on whatever they wanted. Ostensibly in the name of increased healthcare burdens.
Notice that they aren't even saying they need the money to offset the costs of smoking. They just want the money because other states are getting more. Missouri (by their definition) is failing because they aren't gouging their citizens as much as they could.
I don't know, maybe "transparency" in government just means they stop offering pretexts before they take our money. I suppose, all things considered, that is a step up.