Check here to increase taxes on yourself.

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The anti-smoking forces of South Dakota have succeeded in getting thier measure on the ballot as they turned in over 25000 signatures today with Secretary of State Chris Nelson. Read about it here at the Aberdeen American News:

Smoking tax signatures submitted
By Scott Waltman, American News Writer

More than 25,000 signatures have been turned into the state in an attempt to put a tobacco tax measure on the ballot.

and...

If enough are authenticated, residents will vote in November whether to increase the state's tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Just more than 16,700 signatures must be approved to force the vote.
This brings up a point that should be made - This coming Tuesday is the deadline for initiated measures to be filed with the Secretary of State. And there's a lot of them still out there:

Initiated Measure to provide safe access to medical marijuana for certain qualified persons. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to revise certain provisions related to county zoning and conditional use requests. View full text of petition. (Note: This petition text replaces a similar measure filed on June 9, 2005)

Initiated Measure to increase the tax on cigarettes and tobacco products, to dedicate the revenue for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, property tax reduction, education enhancement, and health care, and to make an annual appropriation therefore. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to change the school start date. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to impose a consumption fee on the retail sale of alcoholic beverages in the amount of one percent of the gross sales price of the alcoholic beverage. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to define certain contests which would not be considered gambling. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to place certain restrictions on the use of state-owned aircraft. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to repeal video lottery. View full text of petition.

Initiated Measure to repeal the four percent (4%) gross receipts tax imposed by South Dakota Codified Law Chapter 10-33A upon wireless telecommunication services. View full text of petition.

The referred laws have a bit more time than that, and the only one put there is the abortion issue:

Referred law: An Act to establish certain legislative findings, to reinstate the prohibition against certain acts causing the termination of an unborn human life, to prescribe a penalty therefor, and to provide for the implementation of such provisions under certain circumstances. View full text of petition.
Who will we see on the ballot? I think we won't see the Medical Marijuana petition, the Alcohol Tax Petition, or the poker legalization measure being submitted. I hear we might see the video lottery one come in. But as far as the rest, it's a crapshoot.

Stay tuned for the deadline this next week.

Comments

Anonymous said…
PP, you are so very wrong. Medical Marijuana will be on the ballot. It'll be a party come Tuesday.

Keep up the status quo buddy.
8:02 AM
Anonymous said…
“But perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of voters allied with these respondents may one day be heard in the halls of Congress.”

Justice Stevens, writing for the majority in Gonzales v. Raich
9:57 AM
Anonymous said…
PP, as a conservative I would think you'd be in favor of increasing the tax on tobacco. If you look at the numbers, SD spends $750,000 on tobacco use prevention to combat over $50 million in medicaid just from tobacco use. I think I've seen that amounts to over $500 per SD taxpayer every year to pay for someone else's bad habit.
2:04 PM
PP said…
As a conservative, I'm against Government intrusion in my life. Not that I smoke.
4:45 PM
Anonymous said…
But government should go ahead and intrude in the life of your wife and your daughter's by telling them what they can do with their own health care.
7:08 PM
Anonymous said…
Professor PP, Estmated to take in 34 Million Dollars and only 5 million will be used to help the smokers quit. Question is, where is the balance going to be spent? Where has the tabacco settlement money gone? I am not a smoker. As a conservative, this voter is against more taxes.
10:35 PM
Anonymous said…
PP, you say your "against Government intrusion" in your life.

What about "Government intrusion" in other peoples lives. Take, for example, medical marijuana.

Would you concede that the Government, by denying sick and dying persons from obtaining legal access to the medicine that works the best for them, is an "intrusion."

By golly, your Repulican principles are fine at work.
2:55 PM
Anonymous said…
Sorry about the sloppiness in above comment.

I fired up (literally) though.
2:57 PM
Anonymous said…
I'll vote for the higher smoking taxes. This is a voluntary tax; if you don't want to pay it, don't smoke. And you will be richer, healthier, live longer, and be better smelling to be around. Win-win situation. Put the additional money from this tax to paying the state's Medicaid bill for smoking related illnesses.

I'd also be for a nickle or dime tax on a bottle of pop too, dedicated solely to education outside of the stupid formula. And that one I would pay, but again, it would be a voluntary tax. If I didn't want to pay it, I wouldn't have to buy the pop.
8:16 PM
Anonymous said…
voluntary tax...like the gas tax?
8:30 PM
Anonymous said…
To 8:30: Voluntary gas tax??? Ha!! It would be if we could all bike or walk to work and to shop etc. Not the same as smoking or drinking pop.
5:40 PM
Kelsey said…
I don't know, Nonnie...seems like an addiction to oil (based on laziness) would be easier to overcome than a physical addiction to smoking. Then again, I bike and I don't smoke, so I really don't care how either one turns out. Have at it!
11:00 PM
Anonymous said…
The world's addiction to oil is impossible to cure at this time. And unless you live and work at home and shop by phone and never ride in a car, you are part of the addiction like it or not. Since oil is necessary to our way of life at this point in history, any tax on this is not voluntary. And if a person truly wants to quit smoking, he/she can. Many already have, maybe not easy, but it's not a complicated international economical situation, it's a personal decision.
8:11 PM
Anonymous said…
Some folks in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia have started taxing themselves on gas. The concept fits pretty well with people who aren't pro-big government but who want to take some civic responsibility.

Also, it's kind of fun to get to decide how to allocate the budget yourself instead of having your representatives do it.... Last meeting we had over $1000 to distribute.

http://www.voluntarygastax.org/
7:55 PM
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