MISSOURI (KCTV) -
Smokers might have to cough up 90 cents per pack of cigarettes if a tobacco tax passes Nov. 6. Missouri's Pop B would dedicate revenue earned from the sin tax to education.
"It's going to hurt us if they pass it," Sharon Dibuono said.
Dibuono works behind the counter at Discount Smokes on the Missouri side of Stateline Road.
"A lot of my customers come from Kansas and, unfortunately, they can't vote for it, so we need to get Missourians to vote no," she said.
The 73 cent sales tax increase would still make Missouri one of the lowest cigarette taxed states in the country but, up from 17 cents, smokers and smoke shops aren't happy.
"A lot of my customers are on a fixed income so they've got to make choices. ‘Do I want gas? Do I want food? Do I want cigarettes?'" Dibuono said.
Proponents like Rebeka McIntosh, a teacher in Grandview, MO, said Prop B seems like a win-win for everyone.
"I say vote yes. It's going to be good for kids and for schools," McIntosh said.
Teachers and organizations like Missouri National Education Association or MNEA support the tax, especially because it's earmarked for education without any chances of the money going somewhere else.
"The formula being under-funded as it has been for so many years we know this money will go to the schools that need them," McIntosh said.
The question then is where Missouri would stand if voters vote yes to Prop B. New York has the highest tobacco tax at $4.35, Rhode Island comes in second highest at $3.46.
Missouri's tax would go up to 90 cents per pack, compared to the national average of $1.49.
Click here for more information on 2012 Missouri ballot issues.
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