Attorney General's News Release

April 4, 2012

Attorney General Koster says “The Time has Come” for voters to have say on cigarette tax

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Attorney General Chris Koster today released an op-ed article to all newspapers in the state encouraging the Missouri General Assembly to put a cigarette tax increase measure before Missouri’s voters on the November ballot. In the article, Koster noted that Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax among all 50 states, including tobacco-producing states like South Carolina and Kentucky.

He said if passed, the $400 million in new revenue should be directed to building Missouri’s educational infrastructure, with particular emphasis on higher education, and addressing the state’s health care needs. Koster noted that Missouri currently spends more money under Medicaid to provide health care for smoking-related illnesses than we collect from the entire cigarette tax.

Koster’s op-ed article is attached for newspapers’ use.