Image credit: piksel / 123RF Stock Photo
Proponents wanted to raise Missouri’s tobacco tax — the lowest in the nation — and use the proceeds to help fund public schools, health care and smoking cessation programs.
At 1:12 a.m. on November 7, almost all the votes were in, but results from 65 precincts were still outstanding. Right then it looked like the tax would not pass, but the race was close with 51 percent voting “no” and 49 percent voting “yes.” Shortly before that, a few precincts closed the gap from four to two percentage points. So I wasn’t going to call it yet.
I knew the tax probably wouldn’t pass, but I was going to sleep on it and check the results again in the morning.
Yawn.
It had been a long, eventful night. Time to get some sleep.
“Sweet dreams, everyone,” I was about to say. “I’m planning to get some shuteye and dream about fully funded public schools.”
AND JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO CLICK ON “PUBLISH” … I checked the results on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website one more time. With all results counted, the “yes” votes had increased … but not enough to win.
Missouri’s tobacco tax remains the lowest in the nation, and our public schools still are not fully funded.
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