SALEM, Ore. -- Tobacco interests have gone to court in a bid to block a statewide vote this fall in Oregon on a cigarette tax increase to pay for children's health insurance, said the Associated Press.
A lawsuit filed in Marion County (Ore.) Circuit Court last week maintains that Measure 50, which would boost the state cigarette tax by 84.5 cents a pack, violates the state constitution in several ways. Among other things, the lawsuit said the measure makes three unrelated changes to the constitution with separate taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other [image-nocss] tobacco products such as smokeless tobacco. It also said the measure is an unprecedented and unconstitutional gambit to get around the requirement that tax increases be approved by three-fifths majorities of the House and Senate.
The Democrat-controlled state legislature placed the cigarette tax on the November 6 ballot as a constitutional amendment after lawmakers could not muster enough GOP votes to enact it outright.
The lawsuit was filed by Portland lawyer James Dumas on behalf of State Senator Jeff Kruse (R) and a group of tobacco users and retailers. Dumas, who defended tobacco maker Philip Morris in a lawsuit over the 1999 death of a Salem woman, has asked the Marion County court for an expedited hearing of the Measure 50 challenge.
Cathy Kaufman, a spokesperson for Healthy Kids Oregon, a group that is advocating for the passage of the cigarette tax, dismissed the lawsuit as, further proof that Big Tobacco will do anything, say anything and pay anything to protect their profits even if it is at the expense of Oregon's kids.
Kaufman said tobacco companies have gone to court in at least five states since 2001 to block tobacco-related measures, and that none of those attempts had been successful.
Lisa Gilliam, a spokesperson for a group called Stop the Measure 50 Tax that is being primarily funded by Philip Morris, said her organization, agrees with the basic tenets of the lawsuit. We believe the measure is flawed, and sets a dangerous constitutional precedent.
The cigarette tax hike, which is strongly backed by Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski, would raise an estimated $153 million for the current two-year budget, most of it to provide health care for more than 100,000 Oregon children.
Opponents said measure is unfair to smokers, and it is inappropriate to write such a tax into the state constitution.
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