Now that the proposed hike in Missouri’s cigarette tax has gone up in smoke, will they try it again?
Tom Kruckmeyer is with the non-profit Missouri Budget Project, and was a supporter of the cigarette tax increase. He expects state lawmakers to keep looking for budget cuts rather than tax increases in the coming session.
Does Mr. Kruckmeyer talk on his cell phone and drive at the same time? I’m going to wager he does. Like health issues, getting t-boned by a distracted driver on their cell phone is a gamble. I get in my car which puts me at risk of death or serious injury everyday . Raising taxes on cell phones, cars, gas, tires, etc…would seem to be a reasonable solution in Mr. Kruckmeyer’s world. After all if it’s about saving us from ourselves by achieving prosperity through higher taxes on a legal product so it can never hurt anyone again then why stop at tobacco. Moreover, to lecture us that education is underfunded after the lottery and casinos were sold as fixes to education funding rings hollow. Millions of extra sin dollars were supposed to flow into education and if those dollars are not making it to public schools pockets, then either voters were lied to (this never happens) or maybe he should check Missouri’s legislatures pockets for the lost education revenue.
“We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” — Winston Churchill