LOS ANGELS, Cali. - Results for California's $1 tax increase on cigarettes i.e. proposition 29, is too close to call. According to an unofficial report the bill failed with 51% voters against it and 49% voting in favor of it. However, AP and other reports say that the official results are still undetermined and might take a few days to be revealed.
A fairly divided group of voters set out to polls yesterday to cast votes on the highly controversial bill.
According to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, before voting polls opened 53% of voters said they would vote in favor of the proposition, while 42% said they would vote against it and 5% were undecided. However, today all unofficial polls show that the balance of votes has switched, with numbers of those voting against the bill slightly higher than those in favor of it.
The proposition has caused quite a stir between the tobacco companies and the health advocates. The New York Times reported yesterday that tobacco companies had poured in as much as $47million in advertisement. The campaigning has been rather successful managing to sway many voters to vote against the bill. The advertisements argue that favoring the bill will only pour money into other states and thus adversely affect California's economy.
Proposition 29 or the Tobacco tax for Cancer Research Act is a proposed state statute in California. It comes as an effort to improve health and reduce smoking related health risks such as cancer. The statute proposes to increase taxes on cigarettes by a whole dollar. Currently, the taxes are 87 cents but if the new bill passes it will rise to $1.87.
California currently has the second lowest rate of smokers in the country. And although the state is has very strict smoking laws and regulations, it has not increased taxes on cigarettes in 14 years, as reported by the New York Times.
