ST. LOUIS (AP) – Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax will rise if either of two ballot measures passes Nov. 8. Amendment 3 would add 60 cents to Missouri’s 17-cent-per-pack tobacco tax, with the money going to early childhood education. Proposition A would raise the tobacco tax 23 cents for transportation projects. In a twist, tobacco companies…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – An attorney defending a proposal to raise Missouri tobacco taxes for early childhood programs says taking it off the ballot would violate backers’ constitutional right to use the initiative petition process. Attorney Jane Dueker argued Thursday to state Supreme Court judges that it should go to voters Nov. 8, despite…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over a proposed cigarette tax hike after a Missouri appeals court panel changed the wording that voters would see on the November ballot. The appeals panel ruled late last week that the initiative’s summary was insufficient, because it failed to say a new fee…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The owner of a southwest Missouri discount tobacco store has filed a lawsuit challenging a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the state’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax and create new fees for wholesalers of some cigarettes. The suit filed Friday in Cole County Circuit Court claims the measure’s ballot title and…
