No on Prop A: Tobacco tax for transportation gets one thing right, many things wrong
A coalition of tobacco companies and convenience store owners have proposed Prop A, a new 23 cent per pack tobacco tax for transportation in Missouri.
A simple look at the supporters of Prop A should make you suspicious--and rightly so. Prop A has a number of serious problems.
But let's look first at the one think Prop A got right: For years we have been encouraging advocates of any Missouri transportation funding initiative to include funding for all types of transportation needed by Missourians: roads, highways, passenger rail, public transit, bicycle, walking, and trails and more.
And Prop A does it! The funding is earmarked for a new "Transportation Infrastructure Fund" and no further restrictions are placed on the fund:
- Prop A funding can be used for roads, highways, rail, public transit, sidewalks, crosswalks, bicycle facilities, trails, and more
Unfortunately, this positive is far outweighed by some important negatives:
- The tax has a severe "poison pill" provision. If any other tobacco tax is even proposed for discussion in the future, this tax immediately ends. This is why tobacco companies and convenience store operators are supporting the proposal.
- If both tobacco tax initiatives on the ballot pass (Prop A and Amendment 3), no one knows which will be valid--or perhaps they both will? Both Prop A and A3 and supported by different factions of the tobacco industry. Since one is a Constitutional Amendment and the other is an initiated state statute, no one is certain what the outcome will be if both pass. If this happens, it will be up to the courts to decide.
Prop A is opposed by an impressive and bipartisan array of opponents:
- Gubernatorial candidates from both political parties
- The American Cancer Society
- The American Heart Association
- The American Lung Association
When a tobacco tax proposal is supported by the tobacco industry and opposed by anti-smoking advocates, there must be a good reason--it's just a badly drafted and poorly thought out initiative.
For these same reasons, it is a very poor way to fund our statewide infrastructure needs. The funding will produce only a portion of the amount needed to plug MoDOT's funding gap--and that funding will disappear as soon as anyone anywhere in the state proposes a different tobacco tax.
Transportation requires reliable, ongoing funding sources--the opposite of what Prop A offers.
More information:
- Nonpartisan information about Prop A from Balletpedia
- Full text of Prop A
- Nonpartisan information on all candidates and initiatives on the Nov 8th, 2016, ballot in Missouri from MoBikeFed
Working to create a world-class transportation system in Missouri for people who walk, bicycle, and use trails is one of the four primary goals of our Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri. Working to create powerful statewide coalitions in support of flexible, multimodal state transportation funding is one of the most important ways we work to support that goal.
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