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Jack Wiley Letter to Editor, Proposition B
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Jack Wiley Letter to Editor, Proposition B
October 20, 2012
Missouri voters will have a very important issue on their November ballots: Proposition B. This measure, if passed, will raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from only 17 cents to 90 cents. While this is a stiff increase, it is still well below the national average of $1.46 per pack.
Where will the money go? Half of the estimated $283 million raised from the tax will go to support Missouri’s public schools and half will support smoking cessation programs and higher education.
What would the passage of Prop B mean to our district? Estimates state that R-7 would receive from $2.78 to $4.1 million annually. I need not remind you that we have been in a budget cutting mode for over five years and there is not a school, staff member, or student untouched by the $70 million in cutbacks over this period.
What would the passage of Prop B mean to our state? It would mean that the 8,600 Missouri teens that start smoking each year might be convinced that smoking is a terrible habit that will shorten their lives and raise their risk of getting cancer.
While Missouri currently has the lowest tobacco tax in the country, we are nearly in the top 10 states in smoking prevalence. I’ll let you make the connection.
I’m voting yes for Prop B on November 6 and I’d like to encourage you to do the same.
Jack Wiley
President, Lee’s Summit R-7 Board of Education
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Steve Dailey
a tax-paying nobody who doesn't trust our government(s) except for Jacob Turk
Target groups are easy to malign for the good of the populous. It is easy to say “they” should not smoke – so let’s tax the adults, use the kids who start to smoke early as the reason. Yet, you only dedicate 50% to smoke prevention, and add to the school levy by taxing smokers.
It seems that the “sin” tax is acceptable to you as a way to fund the schools.
If smoking is a sin, then let’s dedicate 100% to the ad campaign to encourage teenagers and young adults to never light the first cigarette.
If the health of young adults is the reason for the tax then dedicate 100% of the tax to health clinics and cancer research.
The fact of the matter Mr. Wiley you are using our kids to justify passing a tax increase that the voters of Lee’s Summit expressed an opinion on.
R-7’s request for increased funding was turned down by the voters.
This “cigarette” tax is only a poorly veiled excuse to get more money from the citizens of Missouri and Lee’s Summit for the school district after you were turned down on your last request.
Targeting smokers is easy. The smoke, the health issues, the social issues, and the previous success makes it a “can’t lose” proposition. After all, as you point out “Missouri currently has the lowest tobacco tax in the country”.
Missouri has lower income tax than Illinois and we have a lower unemployment rate. So perhaps extending your stated thinking, we should have higher taxes in Missouri to make it fair.
I disagree with Prop B. I disagree even more with the argument you make for it because, as pointed out earlier, R-7’s request for additional funding was turned down by the citizens of R-7.
If we – as a country – continue to target and isolate groups we will lose the values our founding fathers put forth at the creation of our nation. Discrimination (or the targeting) of a group of people is wrong. I’m surprised that as the President of the Lee’s Summit R-7 Board of Education – someone entrusted with the shaping of the moral and ethical values of our next generation – you would support such a blatant infringement on the rights of individuals of your community.
Finally I wish to ask you this: Do you realize that the impact of the increase in the taxes will be far greater on the lower income families in the state?
Paul Zainea
http://www.lsconservative.com