816 readers react to Missouri Amendment 3, hunting season
Big Tobacco
Amendment 3 increases Missouri’s cigarette tax 60 cents per pack and assesses cigarette wholesalers a 67 cent fee per pack. The amendment claims the revenue generated is placed in a trust fund to improve early childhood education. However, reading the actual amendment language uncovers flaws, which is why Missourians should vote no on Amendment 3.
Supporters say only cigarette consumers will pay. But Amendment 3 excuses Big Tobacco manufacturers like R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris from the 67 cent fee, burdening the smaller wholesalers. Not surprisingly, Reynolds has provided 90 percent of all contributions to support the amendment.
Amendment 3 supporters distract voters by advertising with children who “deserve a pre-K education.” However, even the Missouri National Education Association opposes Amendment 3 for its faults. MNEA recognizes those disbursing the funds are tied to politicians, rather than elected by the people.
Additionally, if cigarette users switch to tobacco products not taxed by the amendment, like cigars or snuff, less trust fund money will accrue.
Vote no to Big Tobacco. Vote no to flawed legislation. Vote no on Amendment 3.
Nathan Gentry
Lee’s Summit
Happy hunting
Deer season opened in September for Missouri’s archers, and yet this year’s harvest is already bearing some serious trophies. In Charity, Mo., a bowhunter just bagged a 36-point buck, and while a world-class animal like that isn’t in all of our futures, it represents the best of Missouri conservation efforts — efforts that largely keep government out of the way of these autumn and winter hunts.
Keeping barriers and costs low is a core tenant of free-market reforms. And in Missouri, limited bureaucratic obstacles allow thousands of families annually to take advantage of these hunting opportunities. Best of luck to all of our hunters in the months ahead.
Patrick Ishmael,
Show-Me Institute
Kansas City
Pronounce it right
In this especially uncivil election season, the one bright spot may be that we have yet to hear a political ad on TV with a voice solemnly pledging to do right by the people of Missou-RUH.
That’s a pronunciation generally heard only while traveling somewhere south of Interstate 44, or when a candidate who has otherwise never said in it in his life dredges it up in an attempt to sound folksy. (“Listen to that, Abba Mae, he IS one of us!”)
My ancestors, as folksy as anybody, have been roaming Missouri since the 1830s, and the several dozen I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in this world to a person has said Missou-REE. When I judge a candidate, I look for competence and intelligence; I’ll handle the dialect lesson myself.
Larry Stice
Kansas City
This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "816 readers react to Missouri Amendment 3, hunting season."