Editorials

"An Informed Voter Is The Best Defense Against Bad Government"

"Alaska Governor Murkowski's "MUST PASS" $1 per pack Tobacco Tax ( and other miscellaneous non-sense ) SB368 was defeated by....well... nothing. "

By Mike Carney.  May 13, 2004

Alaska's legislators seemed to place their own priorities over the display of special interests on the last day of session.  The House Finance Committee sat on this bill for eight days and released it shortly before the final House session on May 11th 2004. This caused this bill and all it's changes to be heard on the last and busiest day of the year for the legislators.  

According to an AP report, http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/5061960p-4989732c.html House speaker Pete Kott of Eagle River stated that they ran out of time. Is that really what happened? Nearly 30 minutes of silence on the house floor archived audio suggest that running out of time may not have been the case. http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/archive.cfm?audio=6599 Pete Kott also stated that they had the votes to get this bill through the House. Perhaps Mr. Kott would like to elaborate on how he knew they had the votes to do so.  

The final version of SB368 was modified by the Finance Committee. The changes included a reduction from 1 dollar a pack the first year to 60 cents the first year, then another 20 cents the next two years. Still a $1 tax increase, just not all at once. Other modifications included removing wording regarding Internet sales (the previous version made this legal in a sense), adding portions of another failed bill concerning limitations on suits against the MSA, and wording was added to give 8.9% of funds to tobacco control groups advocating the tax.  Since no fiscal notes were ever given, the revenue generated could not be stated but it was estimated at $18,000,000 for the first year. The anti-tobacco lobby lost roughly $1.5 million due to the bill’s failure. Also lost was $800,000 appropriated for enforcement.  Essentially, the legislature actually saved taxpayers money by doing absolutely nothing. Silence really is golden. 

One can speculate as to the reasons why House Finance Committee Co-chair Williams held the bill for so long: 

1) He had some other agenda and was holding this bill hostage to get some of his bills though.

2) He did some math and saw that this tax was unjust and would do nothing to solve Alaska's supposed budget crisis or reduce teen and adult smoking rates, as claimed by the minions of the tobacco control industry.

3) He didn't think this was a "MUST PASS" bill as decreed by Governor Frank Murkowski.

 http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/5049965p-4977772c.html

4) Perhaps he actually considered what would happen if we took $35,000,000 out of Alaska's already weak economy. 

Whatever the reasons for this bill failing to pass were, Representative Williams should be commended for standing up for what he believed in and sitting on this very bad piece of legislation that was nearly forced down the throats of Alaskans at the request of Governor Murkowski. Others that should be thanked are Senators Green, Hoffman, Ogan, Therriault, and Wagoner for their NO votes on SB368 and Representatives Kohring, Moses and Lynn for their do not pass recommendations on the house counterpart bill HB538 which also died in the House Finance Committee. Common sense and reason were uncommonly apparent in those legislators’ actions and votes. 

Hopefully in the next session we can start talking about some other important  issues like the facade of a tax free charity acting in their own self-interest to steal away people's money for their own financial gains under the guise of public health,  uncovering some of the lies and misgivings that we now take to be "fact" and truth behind the possibly illegal Master Settlement Agreement, protecting the rights of all citizens and property owners, fair and accountable government,  and the "Group Think" style of voting that affects the outcome of many important issues in Alaska.

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