Leaders from CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield Communities, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and the University of Missouri held a news conference at the local chamber headquarters this morning in support of the Proposition B initiative.
The ballot initiative, which would raise the tax on tobacco statewide, is projected to generate $283 million in new revenue per year for education if passed by voters in the Nov. 6 election.
“The passage of Proposition B would help to compensate for state budget shortfalls for Missouri’s public higher education institutions and K-12 schools," Springfield chamber President Jim Anderson said in the release. "Nothing is more important to Missouri’s future than to invest in education and our future workforce - it is the key to Missouri’s long-term economic prosperity."
If Prop B passes, MU has committed to investing funding toward creating a medical school clinical campus in Springfield in partnership with CoxHealth and Mercy. The campus would expand MU's medical student class size by more than 30 percent, create 3,500 jobs and add $390 million per year to Missouri's economy, according to MU's
website.
"Hundreds of well-qualified medical school applicants, including students from southwest Missouri, go to other states to study and practice medicine due to a lack of access to medical education in our state," Mercy Springfield Communities President and CEO Jon Swope said in a statement on the website. "The clinical campus will help keep students and physicians in Missouri, which will improve health care, education and the economy."
If passed, Prop B would raise the state's tax on major cigarette brands to 90 cents per pack, a 429 percent increase from the current tax of 17 cents per pack - the lowest rate in the U.S., according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Opponents of the initiative, such as the Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, have said the tax increase would hurt taxing districts, consumers and businesses. In the Springfield Business Journal story "
Taking sides on Prop B tobacco tax," MPCA Executive Director Ron Leone said if Prop B passes, bordering states Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas would have lower tobacco taxes than Missouri, which could put retailers near state lines at a disadvantage for in-store sales, according to Drury University economics professor Steven Mullins.[[In-content Ad]]
