Table 1

Ballot initiatives and legislative referenda to raise the state tobacco excise taxes, 1988–2008

Year	State	Tax increase amount ($)	Amount allocated to tobacco control ($)	Purpose	Campaign messaging
					“No” campaign
					Tax is unfair	Tax is regressive	Programme unsustainable	Not benefitting smokers	No spending accountability	Creates more bureaucracy	Promotes smuggling	Physician hospital/HMO money grab
1988	California Proposition 9922	0.25	0.06	Create and fund tobacco control programme including health education, scientific research and healthcare programmes	X	X					X	X
1988	Oregon Measure 5	0.01	0.00	Fund intercollegiate athletics		X
1990	Montana Initiative 11521 24	0.25	0.14	Tobacco education and health care (58%), capital expenditures, and debt service on prior building projects	X	X		X		X
1992	Massachusetts Question 121 25	0.25	0.25	Tobacco education programme	X	X
1994	Arizona Proposition 20021 26 27	0.40	0.11	Medicaid services for low income families, tobacco use and prevention programme and tobacco disease research	X	X		X		X		X
	California Proposition 18628	1.00	0.00	Health benefits through a “single payer” plan						X
	Colorado Amendment 121 31 32	0.50	0.20	Tobacco use education and research on tobacco-related disease, health care for the poor and economic development	X				X	X	X
1996	Oregon Measure 4433	0.30	0.03	Tobacco use reduction and health care	X				X	X		X
1998	California Proposition 1034	0.50	0.02	Early childhood development, smoking prevention	X	X	X			X	X
2001	Washington Measure 773*	0.60	0.06	Low-income health services, tobacco control	X	X
2002	Arizona Proposition 303‡*37	0.60	0.02	Low income/indigent health services, emergency health reimbursement, tobacco control, research on preventing disease
	Missouri Proposition A39	0.55	0.04	Hospital trauma care and emergency preparedness, prescription drug assistance for seniors, healthcare services for low income women and children, medical research, tobacco control, early childhood care/education	X		X	X		X		X
	Oregon Measure 20‡*41	0.60	0.01	Medicaid services for low income families	X						X
2004	Colorado Amendment 35*	0.64	0.12	Health services, tobacco control		X	X				X
	Montana Initiative 149*44	1.00	0.13	General fund, children’s health insurance, Medicaid services for low income families, veteran’s nursing homes, long-term building programme						X
	Oklahoma Question 713‡	0.80	0.01	Health programmes, new cancer centre, trauma care, long-distance medical care, substance abuse, hospital and ambulance services, state/county/local governments	X						X
2006	Arizona Proposition 20137	0.02	0.02	Smokefree workplaces and public places (including small tax for implementation, then anti-tobacco education)
	Arizona Proposition 203*37	0.80	0.00	Early childhood development and health programmes	X	X	X
	California Proposition 8648	2.60	0.31	Emergency room services, nursing education, children’s health insurance, tobacco control, disease prevention				X	X	X	X	X
	Missouri Amendment 349	0.80	0.14	Low-income healthcare services and administrative costs, tobacco control	X	X	X	X			X	X
	South Dakota Measure 2*	1.00	0.25	General fund, tobacco control, property tax offset, healthcare trust fund, education enhancement fund	X		X				X
2007	Oregon Measure 50‡51	0.845	0.04	Children’s health care, health services for low-income adults and medically underserved, tobacco control	X		X		X	X		X
Median (IQR)

Campaign messaging					Campaign budgets ($ millions)		Pre-election polling data (%)		% “yes” vote
“Yes” campaign					Campaign budgets ($ millions)		Pre-election polling data (%)
Reduces youth smoking	Tobacco industry is misleading	Supports underfunded health services	Reduces consumption	Reduces tobacco-related health costs	Proponents	Opponents	All “support”	“Strongly support”
	X	X		X	1.6	20.0	7321	5721	58
	X				0.4	1.2	4223	2323	37
X		X			.04	1.5	6221		41
X			X	X	1.0	7.3	6821	5421	54
X	X	X	X		3.0	6.0	7121	5621	51
	X	X			3.2	9.0	3829	2030	27
X		X	X		0.7	5.1	7021		39
X	X				0.65	4.8	6321		56
	X	X			7.05	29.4	5635		51
X		X	X		1.80	0.22	6536	5436	66
					1.60	Nil	6438		66
X		X	X	X	5.50	0.10	7040		49
X			X		0.27	0.05	6542	4942	64
X		X		X	2.03	0.14	6743		61
	X	X		X	0.10	Nil	6945	5045	63
X		X	X	X	1.40	2.10	6846	5946	53
	X				1.80	8.80	7047	5847	55
		X			3.20	0.07	7047	5647	53
	X	X	X		16.8	66.6	6335		48
		X	X		7.00	6.00	5939	4439	49
X			X		0.35	0.07	6550	5250	61
X	X	X			3.70	12.1	5952	4152	41
							65.0 (59.0–69.3)	52.0 (41.0–61.0)	52.0 (41.0–61.0)

Winning campaigns in italics. *Uncontested by the tobacco industry. ‡Legislative referendum. HMO, health maintenance organisation.