"We're not worried about loss of revenue," Rotert explains. "We've got 14 school districts in Kansas City and all stand to benefit from the higher revenues [drawn by the tax] to help pay for all kinds of things. This is a net benefit for all of them, and by virtue of that, a benefit for us as well."
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley
"we have seen nothing that would cause us to worry about the conclusions in Dr. Haslag's study. We are aware, however, of credible studies indicating that increasing taxes on tobacco products discourages youth smoking."
By the way, there are three things you should keep in mind about Dr. Haslag's study (which you can read in its entirety here).
First, the convenience store lobby paid him $20,900 to do it. Even prior to that, Haslag was (and still is) associated with the Show-Me Institute, Rex Sinquefield's free-market think-tank and a group that is no friend to taxes in general. Which is not to say the professor necessarily skewed his data, or is incapable of checking his biases at the door. But it's worth considering.
Lastly, Haslag assumes in his analysis that the money saved by citizens when they stop buying packs of smokes will NOT be spent on other things in Missouri. The Prop B campaign's spokeswoman, Misty Snodgrass, has called this "an obviously absurd assumption."
Lobbyist Ron Leone, who represents the convenience stores, just e-mailed us to argue that the $67 million shortfall warned of in Haslag's study will lead to higher taxes. He wrote us the following:
The only guarantees if Prop B passes are that their constituents will be faced with a massive tax increase and their cities and counties will lose money. Special interests are already clamoring for Prop B funds which will be diverted and misspent by bureaucrats & politicians in Jefferson City just like the Lottery and casino monies.
