CA voters reject $1/pack cigarette tax hike by thin margin (49.2% to 50.8%)

[Bill Godshall]

CA voters reject $1/pack cigarette tax hike by thin margin (49.2% to 50.8%)
Presidential Primary Election Results | June 5, 2012 | California Secretary of State
Presidential Primary Election Results | June 5, 2012 | California Secretary of State

 

[Bill Godshall]

The CA County vote on Prop 29 at
Presidential Primary Election Results | June 5, 2012 | California Secretary of State
shows that Republican controlled counties voted against the measure (usually by large margins), and most Democrat controlled counties voted for it. But I was surprised to see that most Los Angeles voters rejected Prop 29.

 

[sanjosse]

I don't know about anybody else, but I voted against it because the funds were not guaranteed to be spent in CA.

 

[BoiseMike]

WOOHOO!!! A tax increase that doesn't pass I always consider a good thing.

 

[Bill Godshall]

It should be noted that absentee and provisional ballots were not included in the state's official tally on Prop 29.

The CA Secretary of State is now counting absentee and provisional ballots.

But 63,176 votes is a lot to overcome. At least there won't be any hanging chads.

 

[yzer]

Yes, liberal counties (mostly big CA cities) voted for the proposition while conservative counties (rural) voted it down. CA has a large independent vote that probably trended anti-Prop. 29.

This proposition triggered a lot of knee-jerk voting. Liberal: anti tobacco smoking but pro ......... smoking. Conservative: anti tax increase of any kind.

I'm a non-partisan voter and voted against Prop. 29 for the following reasons.

-No assurance that the money would be spent in-state
-No assurance that the money wouldn't just be committed to the general fund eventually
-15 year immunity from a challenge at the polls or legislature
-Supporters stated: "Well, we are not paying for it, those smokers are"
-No Prop. 29 funding would have been used for actual cancer heath care
-We already have all the research we need to know that smoking is bad for you
-The funds would be doled out to grant-writing insiders
-What do we tax next? Fast food because it contributes to obesity?

The state needs to raise taxes and cut expenditures to get out of the current budget mess. Additional taxes should be paid by all: not by selected scapegoats.

 

[zapatengo]

I guess big tobacco deserves some thanks for the money to defeat this tax.

http://www.republicreport.org/2012/koch-brothers-backed-group-spending-big-block-california-cigarette-tax/

 

[yzer]

Without a doubt, big tobacco spent a bundle to defeat Prop. 29. Their ad campaign was extremely effective.

I was screaming bloody murder about the CA price of cigarettes when I quit. It was $42 a carton when I quit last winter. Some states have it a lot worse than CA does.

Still, that was $189 a month I was throwing away for cigarettes. vaping costs me a little more than $40 a month right now and my health is vastly improved.

 

[MrsCasey]

Me and ManuDawg are both absentee votes and we voted no.

 

[JerryRM]

Considering the attacks on "junk food" and soft drinks, in the nannystaters obesity crusade, I wonder if that has awakened the voters to the old saying of "give them an inch and they take a mile".

 

[Luisa]

Considering the attacks on "junk food" and soft drinks, in the nannystaters obesity crusade, I wonder if that has awakened the voters to the old saying of "give them an inch and they take a mile".

Well,last night was a good night for "this country getting its" fiscal health in good shape--both cities,states,and Federal.

 

[Bill Godshall]

At least 800,000 ballots still uncounted in California
At least 800,000 ballots still uncounted in California - San Jose Mercury News

While tabulations show votes from all precincts across the state, many votes will remain uncounted for days or weeks afterward. No one had a precise estimate of the uncounted votes statewide, but it was at least 800,000 and perhaps a million or more as of Wednesday.

Los Angeles County reported it has 162,108 ballots left to count. Election officials in San Diego County said they had about 135,000; Orange County had about 113,000; Santa Clara County had as many as 96,000; Sacramento County 84,000; Alameda County 61,000; Riverside County 49,200; San Francisco County 31,000; San Bernardino County 30,000; San Joaquin County 18,000; and Santa Cruz County 16,000.

The 11 counties reported a total of 800,000 uncounted ballots. There are 58 counties in the state.

California tobacco tax backers hope uncounted ballots turn tide
California tobacco tax backers hope uncounted ballots turn tide - Taxes - The Sacramento Bee

 

[Petrodus]

Even with assurances where the money would be spent ...
I don't trust governments to live up to their promises.

 

[Bill Godshall]

While I strongly support increasing state cigarette tax rates up to $3/pack (to reimburse state expenditures for treating cigarette diseases, disabilities, fires, etc), Prop 29 would appropriate 75% of the estimated $735 million annually of tax revenue for already heavily funded cancer research and 25% of the revenue (i.e. $183.75 million) would be spent on more government anti tobacco programs and propaganda.

Although I successfully campaigned to fund state tobacco education and smoking cessation programs more than a decade ago, much/most of that money (especially in recent years) has been spent by health agencies trying to ban the sale and use of e-cigarettes, snus, dissolvables & flavorings, misleading smokers and the public to believe that all tobacco products are just as hazardous as cigarettes, and falsely accusing tobacco and e-cigarette companies of target marketing these far less hazardous products to children.

Government health agencies have also spent lots of tobacco control funds to subsidize and promote drug industry products as the only effective way to quit smoking, and every recipient of a state tobacco control grant and contract is required to exclusively promote drug company products for smoking cessation.

Those are the problems I've had with Prop 29.

The last thing Stan Glantz and his fellow tobacco prohibitionists at UCSF need is hundreds of millions of more dollars to demonize all tobacco products and lobby to ban their sales and use (under the guise of cancer research and youth prevention).

 

[simply me]

I voted no on 29. Last thing we need is more goverement control.

 

[Bill Godshall]

CA Prop 29 down to 16,778 vote difference with 436,000 ballots left to be counted.
California's cigarette tax initiative picking up votes in late tally - latimes.com

 

[simply me]

I used to vote for new taxes where I thought it was needed. Now I vote no on any and all tax hikes here in California. They don't now how to manage our money. We never see our money in work. Our state goverement spends it and can't tell you where it's at. I knew when Brown got in office he would be wanting our money. Tax Tax. Another thing, why don't they tax booze. Somebody every day dies from a drunk driver or of liver failure. We would see very little of it go to cancer. It probably would fund the train that will go to vegas. Prop. 29 also stands for big gov. and I do not need them to tell me how to live. They need to clean up there back yard before they clean mine.

 

[yzer]

I used to vote for new taxes where I thought it was needed. Now I vote no on any and all tax hikes here in California. They don't now how to manage our money. We never see our money in work. Our state goverement spends it and can't tell you where it's at. I knew when Brown got in office he would be wanting our money. Tax Tax. Another thing, why don't they tax booze. Somebody every day dies from a drunk driver or of liver failure. We would see very little of it go to cancer. It probably would fund the train that will go to vegas. Prop. 29 also stands for big gov. and I do not need them to tell me how to live. They need to clean up there back yard before they clean mine.

Here you go...
www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub92.pdf

 

[Fiamma]

Here you go...
www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub92.pdf

Those taxes mentioned in that bill need to be expanded to the very same extent that they have taxed cigarettes. Make alcohol as expensive to drink per drink as a cigarette is to smoke. Maybe get some drunk drivers off the roads, maybe lower the health care costs expended on people who pickle their livers. While they're at it with the protect the children thing there are many children who drink. Ban flavors in alcohol. Ban alcohol advertising.

 

[yzer]

As far as I can tell taxes on alcoholic beverages in CA have had no effect on rates of alcohol abuse. Cheap alcohol always wins the day. So does a temperate climate all year long.