Missouri has been wrestling with its cigarette tax for years. While other states have increased their sin taxes gradually to create revenue in struggling economies, Missouri’s cigarette tax has been stagnant since 1993.
State legislators have tried to increase cigarette taxes, but their bills have always been struck down in the House or Senate. This year, voters took initiative and got a referendum on the November ballot.
It’s been almost 20 years since the cigarette tax was increased. Don’t waste your chance to increase revenue in a way your representatives and senators couldn’t.
Battles in the House and Senate have turned this issue into a partisan weapon, but it’s much more than a simple tax increase. It’s millions of dollars — money Missouri desperately needs. Thirty percent of that revenue would go toward higher education, [according to the Columbia DailyTribune](http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/sep/14/tobacco-tax-would-be-boon-for-mu-med-school/), and with more budget cuts surely in MU’s future, that money is essential.
Having the lowest cigarette tax in the country is nothing to be proud of, especially when Missouri is falling behind in education funding. Smoking is no longer widely accepted in our society but Missouri has failed to realize that. By keeping taxes low, it does nothing to discourage smoking. That’s a lose-lose situation for the state and for Missouri residents.
Will this raise taxes? Sure, but buying cigarettes is the consumer’s choice. If the tax is raised, it will only be to 90 cents, still far below the national average of $1.49. This isn’t a tax that anyone will be forced to pay, and those who choose to will still be paying much less than the majority of Americans do for a pack.
More importantly, this is a tax increase everyone at MU needs. For years, Missouri has failed to increase revenue. As a result, it’s forced to make cut after cut to balance the budget. For the last few years, some of those cuts have been to higher education. MU and other Missouri universities can’t lose much more funding. With more revenue, that hit will soften, or even disappear. We can’t afford to let that opportunity get away.
Gathering enough signatures to put this referendum on the ballot was the hard part. Voting for it is easy. For a state in need of revenue, raising the cigarette tax should be obvious, but it isn’t to our legislature. But that’s what referendums are for — they’re an opportunity for voters to go over the heads of politicians. It’s unlikely an opportunity like this will come around again. Don’t let it go to waste.
