YOUR AD HERE »

Vote no on Amendment 35

J.T. Coyoté Silverthorne

If Amendment 35 is passed by the voters on Nov. 2, the next time you see a smoker huddled outside the front door of one of our local restaurants shivering in the cold trying to enjoy his after dinner smoke, walk up and shake his hand and say, “Thank you.”The reason is, Amendment 35 and the resultant 320-percent increase in tax on a package of cigarettes will go to pay your share of the state’s new welfare program.By voting for Amendment 35, you will vote for a tax appropriation that is outside of the TABOR Amendment restrictions. The new tobacco revenue is not subject to the state’s fiscal spending limits.So you thought it was going to pay for smoking-related health concerns, lung cancer and the like … well you’re wrong. Forty-six percent of the $118 million in annual revenue will go to increase the number of low-income children and their parents, pregnant women and other adults served by state health programs.Nineteen percent will go to pay for health-care services at clinics and hospitals where at least half of the patients who are served are indigent or poor. Sixteen percent will go to education programs in the public schools and to pay for community projects and to perpetuate the myth of secondhand smoke Now we get to the meat of it – 16 percent will go to prevent, detect, and treat cancer, heart and lung diseases. And finally 3 percent is to be used by state and local governments for any health-related purpose. The lion’s share as you can see, is to benefit the poor, a laudable endeavor, but unequitably administered. This amendment is an end run around the Tabor Amendment on the back of the states smokers only, and does not belong in our constitution. It is an unfair tax that does little to nothing for those who are being taxed. Vote No on Amendment 35.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.