Skip to main content

More Prop 29 Facts to Make Your Head Spin (That's Not a Buzz)

Support Provided By

When voters head to the polls next week, they'll have some key arguments to consider in the debate over Prop 29, the statewide ballot measure that would more than double the excise tax on cigarettes and put the revenues toward cancer research and smoking cessation and prevention programs.

The debate seems pretty straightforward. On the one hand, add a buck a pack and you reduce the number of smokers and improve overall public health -- both good.

On the other hand, you may be trampling the rights of smokers, and by creating a new quasi-government agency, California's already bloated bureaucracy swells even more -- both bad. Some observers also complain that in a severe budget crisis like the one we currently (and perennially) face, forcing much-needed funds to be spent in such a narrowly focused way is maybe a bit like a man lost in the desert coming across a canteen full of water and using it to bathe.

Here to make you scratch your head even more are some other less obvious facts to consider.

Here's one: it turns out that most states are scrimping with the tobacco revenues they already generate. Despite having huge coffers filled from excise taxes on cigarettes and from settlement payments from the big tobacco companies, states and the federal government spend in total barely 17 percent of the amount the Centers for Disease Control recommends for tobacco control programs, according to the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released late last week.

California was in the middle of the pack for 2010 spending, making 25th on the list. The state raked in nearly $22 billion between 1998 and 2010 but has used only about $1 billion in that time. It might be enough to make some voters pause before giving the government even more money (not) to spend. Others argue the new commission and funds set up by Prop 29 will actually push California closer to the CDC's recommended appropriations levels. You decide.

Here's another fact: low-income residents will be hit harder than everyone else. One out of every five people whose household income is less than $20,000 is also a smoker, according to the California Budget Project, which studies how fiscal policy can benefit lower income residents (their numbers come from the Department of Public Health).

Meanwhile, those making between $75,000 and $100,000 are about half as likely to be smokers. Fewer than one in 10 making more than $150,000 smoke. The correlation between smoking and income isn't all that revelatory, of course. It's easy to imagine how being poor can increase your stress (maybe money doesn't buy happiness; neither does poverty), and cigarettes can carry you away from your worries on a cloud of euphoria, if only for a moment. Being poor and stressed and hooked on cigarettes, you're not likely to appreciate having to spend another dollar on every pack, even if you plan to quit.

And here's one final tidbit to chew on: California's cigarette tax is currently below the national median of $1.25. Even if Prop 29 passes and catapults the tax here to $1.87, at least 15 other states would still be charging more per pack. New York currently tops the list with a staggering $4.35 per pack, according to the CBP, which pulled the numbers from the Federation of Tax Administrators.

We're not in the business of telling you how to vote, but there's a lot to consider with each new voter initiative. Take a few minutes to read the full CBP analysis. It's loaded with useful information, and it's not that long. You can also take a closer look at who's funding both the support and the opposition.

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.