Time published a story earlier this week discussing how raising Missouri's laughably low 17-cent cigarette tax -- the lowest in the nation -- would be an easy and logical way to help close the state's looming $500 million budget deficit.
At the risk of sounding like a high school student trying to pressure a peer into smoking, raising the cigarette tax to somewhere closer to the $1.45 national average is cool, and everybody else is doing it. Seriously, everybody.
The article notes that even South Carolina, home to tons of tobacco
farms, saw the need for added revenue, told lobbyists to shut up,
and raised cigarette taxes to 57 cents per pack. If they can do it,
Missouri can do it.
Columbia state Rep. Mary Stills (a Democrat) is trying to get momentum behind a plan to
boost the tax by 12 cents per year for eight years, but the article
quotes a state Republican as saying, "There is absolutely no appetite
for it -- zip, zero, none." That was expected.
But maybe Gov. Jay Nixon
could offer a little leadership on the idea and bring the sides to a
compromise. Nah, he made a campaign pledge against new taxes, so he has sat this one out. His spokesman wouldn't even comment to Time about
the issue, saying,
"We're just not gonna weigh in on that right now."
So, to recap the situation: The state is facing a $500 million state
budget deficit, so-called sin taxes are a reasonable way to raise cash
(we're not talking about a penicillin tax here), Republicans would
rather find non-tax-related ways to fix the budget, and the governor
would rather cling to a campaign promise than hold his nose and do
something sensible but unpopular.
This calls for the Pawlenty Maneuver. In 2005, Minnesota Republican Gov.
Tim Pawlenty found himself in a similarly bad situation. He had sworn to not raise taxes or make new taxes, and he was
fighting constantly with the Democrat-controlled state Legislature to
pass a budget. Pawlenty started shaking the sofa cushions looking for a
way to keep the lights on, and he settled on tobacco taxes to bring in $390 million. But, desperate to keep his conservative cred, he
wouldn't let a tax increase tarnish his CV.
In a brilliant and wormy plan, Pawlenty branded
the increased tax a "health impact fee." It passed with bipartisan
support, the cash flowed in, and everybody -- besides smokers and some conservatives -- was happy
with the result. And Pawlenty has spent the last five years bragging to
high heaven about his time in office without raising taxes. Even promo
material for his just-released autobiography/presidential-campaign
literature notes that he did away with a deficit "without raising
taxes."
It's the perfect lie for this situation, too. Nixon should team up with Still and brand her tax
increase with a really grandiose title, like the Budget Heroes Fee or State-Saving Mandatory Donation, and
introduce it to the Legislature, where Republicans can vote for it, since it's not a tax. And because more than 23 percent of
adults in Missouri smoke, increasing the "fee" would bring in a ton of
cash, and everything will be wonderful.
Showing 1-3 of 3
Hi Eric,
My understanding is that state lawmakers can do pretty crafty things to bypass the Hancock amendment which puts major tax increases to a statewide vote. The idea with Still's cigarette tax is that it gets implemented in baby steps so it doesn't get a vote. The Cato Institute has a longer (and libertarian-slanted) explanation from 1994 of how lawmakers have gotten around the amendment in the past. It appears to be not a new strategy. http://www.cato.org/pubs/brief...
Who cares what you call it. Pawlenty STILL raised taxes in his state. (A fee charged (levied) by a government on a product, income , or activity .) The taxpayers in Minnesota must be a bunch of retards if they didn't understand their taxes went up.
Missourian aren't so easily conned. ;)
like
dislike
