Letter to the Editor: Amendment 3 would stomp out high smoking rates

We support Missouri State Amendment 3 to raise Missouri’s very low tobacco tax.

The American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and other public health organizations are supporting increased funding for health-care services and smoking prevention through an increased tax on tobacco products. The measure will be decided by Missouri voters Nov. 7.

Amendment 3 would increase Missouri’s tobacco tax by 80 cents per package of cigarettes, and increase the tax on other tobacco products by 20 percent.

Every day in our nation, 5,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette.

Another 2,000 kids become regular daily smokers, one third of whom will

die prematurely as a result of tobacco-caused disease, and approximately one out of five pregnant teenagers pass on

the risks of smoking to their babies directly or through exposure to second-hand smoke.

High smoking rates

Missouri has one of the highest rates of adult and teen smoking in the country. Research indicates that for every 10 percent increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes, there is a 4 percent decrease in adult smokers and a 7 percent decline in youth smokers.

Missouri has the second-lowest cigarette tax in the country at 17 cents per pack, and the proposed tobacco tax would bring Missouri’s tax rate closer to the national average of $1.

Missouri ranks last in the nation in funding smoking prevention programs.

If passed, the proceeds from the increased tax would be used to support several important health-care priorities:

• smoking prevention and cessation programs, especially for children;

• new money for Medicaid and Missouri’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program;

• increased funding for primary care and specialist physician services for the most needy; and

• additional money for trauma and hospital emergency care provided to low-income and uninsured Missourians.

Tim Mauldin, Ph.D.

Advocacy Committee

High Plains Division

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