State Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, has proposed legislation to increase the state cigarette tax and use the revenue to help fund higher education. We support her proposal and hope the Missouri General Assembly will pass the initiative to put it on the ballot so the public can eventually vote for it.
As of Jan. 1, Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax rate in the nation at $0.17 per pack, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. According to the FTA’s figures for 2012, even after Still's proposed quadrupling of the tax to $0.89 per pack, Missouri would have the 18th lowest state cigarette tax, and 18th out of 51, (including the District of Columbia), is not bad at all.
The increased tax will affect businesses associated with the tobacco industry, but the impact cannot be concisely figured, and we think it is the right price to pay for higher education funding. Our only concern is that the tax could affect lower income individuals, who make up the largest population of smokers, according to the World Health Organization. We hope a cigarette tax will encourage those individuals to stop purchasing cigarettes, which is a luxury good and not a necessity. According to the WHO, a tax that increases cigarette prices by 10 percent decreases consumption by 4 percent in high-income countries like the U.S., and according to the American Lung Association, a 10 percent increase in the overall price of cigarettes results in a 7 percent decrease in the amount of smoke children consume. We understand quitting is difficult, but it is not impossible.
This legislation is not an attack on tobacco users or those businesses in the tobacco industry. It is an attempt to increase higher education funding, which has received cuts. The cigarette tax, even after being quadrupled, will still be well below the national average, which, according to The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and The Missourian, is $1.46 and below the national median, which, according to the FTA, is $1.25. This is not an unreasonable tax.
Presently, Missouri is one of four states to be given a failing grade by the ALA, which works to improve lung health and prevent lung disease in each of the four categories: program spending, smoke-free air, cigarette tax and cessation. If an increased tax on cigarettes is enough to convince even a few cigarette users to cutback on consumption, we consider the marginal health benefits a positive effect for our state.
Whichever House committee the bill is referred to must clear it, and the Senate and House must then pass it. Afterward, the vote will require voter approval. We urge that, in contrast to previous attempts to raise the cigarette tax in 2002 and 2006, the Missouri public expresses slightly more than 49 percent approval to put the approval rate over 50 percent and ensure the beneficial legislation is enacted.
If paying $0.70 more for a pack of cigarettes allows for increased funding, which Still estimates to be $4 million, for higher education, it is a very effective value. In an article in The Missourian, Still is quoted as saying, “I value funding education over having the lowest cigarette tax in the country.” We agree.
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