Editorial Urges ‘No’ Vote on Tobacco Tax Hike Measure
A Merced Sun-Star editorial states that although "[w]e don't like being on the same side as Big Tobacco ... and we do not in any way endorse smoking," Proposition 29 -- a June ballot initiative that would increase California's tax on cigarettes by $1 per pack to raise funds for cancer research -- "is not good public policy or governance," adding, "We recommend a 'no' vote on it." It argues that "instead of using this new tax revenue to address one of the state's many unmet needs, it would create a new semi-independent bureaucracy and a mammoth new medical research program."
- "Our View: 'No' on 29: Budgeting at the Ballot" (Merced Sun-Star, 5/4).