Tomorrow Missouri voters must make a decision on Constitutional Amendment 3.  For voters who can get past the fog of campaign commercials, it should be an easy decision.  Amendment 3 would raise taxes on cigarettes by 470 percent and would triple the rate on other tobacco and related products.    Proponents hide behind vague promises of “A Healthy Future Trust Fund” although there is nothing to suggest that record-breaking tax increases are the best way to help Missourians toward better health.  Who stands to gain?  Health care providers that are complicit in creating greater and greater roles for the government in the health care marketplace.   Under Amendment 3, revenue from new tobacco excise taxes would go to a state trust fund and expenditures would be subject to political whim.  Initially, revenues would help the pay for basic health services for poor Missourians.  But what is missing from the discussion is the source of the funds.  A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control, 33 percent of adults with incomes below the poverty line are smokers while only 22 percent of other adults smoke.  Amendment 3 would disproportionately raise tax revenues from precisely the people it is designed to help.   The negative effects of Amendment 3 reach beyond smokers’ pocketbooks.  Small businesses like gas stations and convenience stores will undoubtedly see lower overall sales.  Consumers who stop for a pack of cigarettes are prone to buy other goods at the same time.  Net result: It is harder to make a living for small business owners in every Missouri community.   Amendment 3 would create a new state run health care program at a time when lawmakers should be tackling serious reforms to Medicaid.  The Amendment 3 solution is more taxes for more of the same failed government spending on health services.    Missouri can do better. Don’t forget when casting your vote tomorrow!    Sincerely,
Dick Armey