Tagged: Proposition B

Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax of any state in the country – and some of the highest smoking and lung cancer rates. A measure on tomorrow’s ballot – Proposition B – is aiming to change that.

While previous efforts to raise Missouri’s cigarette tax have failed, proponents of this increase are more optimistic.

In the third of four discussions as part of our town hall meeting about statewide ballot issues we take a look at Proposition B, concerning a tobacco tax increase.

Host Don Marsh talks with Dudley McCarter, an attorney and board member of Missourians for Health and Education, and Ron Leone, the Executive Director of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association. 

McCarter supports Proposition B and Leone opposes it.

Official Ballot Title: (source: Missouri Secretary of State website)

The St. Louis metro area is considered Missouri’s economic engine.  But, it’s in constant competition with both Kansas City and rural areas for state dollars for schools, roads and other needs.

Financial interests are not the only things that drive a wedge between city and country dwellers.  In this installment of our series “Bound by Division,” St. Louis Public Radio’s Marshall Griffin looks at how the divide between urban and rural interests often comes to a head in Jefferson City.