cigarette taxes by 60 cents, with some
cigarette wholesalers paying an additional
new 67 cent tax. It could generate as much
as $374 million per year. Part of the funding
would go to smoking cessation programs
for pregnant women and youth. As of
this writing, this ballot issue was being
challenged in court.
Amendment 4: Blocking new sales
taxes
Adding this amendment to Missouri’s
constitution would stop the state from
expanding sales and use taxes to any
services or transactions that were not
taxed as of Jan. 1, 2015. This issue comes
as some state lawmakers have discussed
eliminating Missouri’s income tax in favor
of more sales and use taxes. If this ballot
item passes, it could make it more difficult
to enact that change.
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Cigarettes, soil and voter ID
An eclectic set of ballot issues awaits
Missouri voters
BY TRACY KING
M
OUR PERSPECTIVE IS SIMPLE:
That all Member-Owners are
continuously connected to the grid,
so all Member-Owners should pay
evenly to maintain it. Special interest
groups, however, have other ideas.
LEARN MORE:
4EnergyFairness.com
Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives
28
MISSOURI BUSINESS
ost of the choices on the ballot
this November involve deciding
who should make laws for our
state and nation.
However, voters will also have several
opportunities to make laws themselves
this year. As many as six statewide ballot
initiatives will be decided by voters this year
— depending on whether legal challenges
to some of the initiatives are successful.
Some of the issues are constitutional
amendments that state lawmakers placed
on the ballot. Others arrived on the ballot via
initiative petition, an increasingly popular
process that circumvents the legislature
and places statute and constitutional
changes directly before voters.
Keep reading to learn more about
the ballot issues that Missouri voters
will see this year. To see the exact ballot
language for each issue, visit the Missouri
Secretary of State’s website: sos.mo.gov/
petitions/2016BallotMeasures.
Amendment 1: Funding for parks, soil
and water
In 1984, Missouri voters passed a onetenth of 1 percent sales and use tax to
support Missouri’s state park system and
soil and water conservation efforts. It’s
been reapproved by voters three times
since. The tax currently generates about
$90 million annually. The ballot issue is
a constitutional amendment that would
allow the tax to continue for another 10
years.
Amendment 2: Capping political contributions
Also in court is a potential ballot issue
to place limits on political contributions.
Under the proposed rule, up to $2,600
could be donated to individual candidates
and up to $25,000 to political parties. This
potential constitutional amendment would
also place new restrictions on corporate
political donations and would change
how political action committees operate.
It would also stop candidates from using
campaign committees to pass money back
and forth. It would also forbid some, but
not all, businesses from contributing to
political act