Up in Smoke: The Tobacco Tax Proposition

The AP is now reporting that the tobacco tax that was on the June ballot is officially defeated.  On election night, it appeared to have been narrowly defeated but there were various uncounted ballots which apparently in the end did not make enough of a difference to reverse the preliminary outcome.

As prior posts have noted, the tobacco tax – had it passed – would not directly have contributed to the state’s budget or UC (except that some tobacco research dollars might have flowed to UC).  However, failure of the tax to pass will be seen as voter unwillingness to enact taxes more generally since this one enticingly affected only the minority who smoke and was earmarked for cancer research.  The governor’s tax proposal includes both an income tax and sales tax component, the latter a tax everyone pays.  It has a negative enticement: If not passed, the trigger that results hits education (including UC).  Preliminary polling suggests only a narrow majority in favor so an effective negative campaign might kill it.

The preliminary news report is at:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/22/4582325/california-initiative-to-add-1.html

So relax and light up a Camel:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI&w=320&h=195]