COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE

THE TRIBUNE'S VIEW
Tobacco tax
Let me count the ways

By HENRY J. WATERS III, Publisher, Columbia Daily Tribune

Published Sunday, October 15, 2006

The proposed increase in tobacco taxes is wrong in so many ways it’s hard to keep count. Mentioning only a few will suffice.

Amendment 3 on the November ballot would install in the Missouri Constitution a huge state tax increase from 17 cents to 97 cents on a package of cigarettes. This is not the kind of law that should be enacted by amending the constitution.

In fact, it should not be enacted at all. It is philosophically wrong to use the taxing power of government in such a discriminatory way against purveyors and users of a particular legal product. Regardless of what one might think about the personal wisdom of using tobacco products or the cost to society, substantial numbers of people choose to do so, the products are legal and government should not interfere with personal use. We ought to worry about the very idea government would pick on such a minority group of citizens with its power to tax. Nobody would even contemplate such a thing if tobacco users were in the majority.

Moreover, the size of the proposed tax increase is unconscionable, and it’s justified on a questionable premise. It’s a sin tax advertised as a way to improve the health of Missourians. Give proponents credit for saying openly they hope the higher tax eliminates smoking altogether, but abusing the power to tax is not a proper way to get there.

Convenience store sellers of tobacco products near state borders make a compelling case for the adverse economic effects of the tax increase on themselves and the state. This is a valid argument, but most important are more fundamental problems with the tax increase regardless of where tobacco products are bought or sold.

Do we really want the constitution larded up with this kind of law? The document has been weighed down enough already.

Vote no on Amendment 3.