Following the Money Part 3: Amendment 72 (Tobacco Tax)

This is the third article in a series called “Following the Money” where we examine the money spent in support of and opposition to various ballot measures in Colorado. To read the first two, visit our website www.cleanslatenow.org.

Amendment 72 would increase the Colorado state sales tax on a pack of cigarettes from $0.84 to $2.59 per pack. To see how this money would be spent, you can read the summary in the “blue book” here.

Unlike the last two ballot measures, the committees on both sides of this ballot measure are funded almost exclusively by non-individual contributions. The purpose of this analysis is for you to look at the contributors and decide for yourself what their motives are. There is a large fundraising disparity between the two sides as well as the biggest single contribution we’ve ever seen spent against a Colorado ballot measure.

The committee behind Amendment 72 is called “The Campaign for a Healthy Colorado.”  So far they have raised over $2.1 million. Let’s look at their top ten donors:

The average donation to this committee is around $22,000, with just under a hundred total contributions. The vast majority of contributors to this committee are healthcare companies, just like the ones above. There are a few individual contributions to this effort, but only a tiny amount relative to the total amount raised. We’ll leave it to you to decide what the motives are behind these contributions. It’s possible that these organizations have no motivation other than the belief that higher taxes will lead to fewer smokers and a healthier Colorado. It’s also possible that these organizations stand to benefit financially from the tens of millions of dollars in new tax dollars that will be spent on health related programs if this measure passes.

Now let’s look at the committee against Amendment 72 called “No Blank Checks in the Constitution.”  So far they have raised over $17 million to defeat this measure. Normally I’d post the top ten donors to this committee, but there actually aren’t even 10 different donors:

As you can see, Altria is almost exclusively funding this committee and is now one of the biggest spenders on any Colorado ballot measure, ever. Altria is one of the world’s largest tobacco companies. This is the company behind such brands as Basic, Marlboro, Parliament, Skoal, Virginia Slims, and many more. We may not know the motives of the health companies behind Amendment 72, but with annual profits of around $11 billion, we know exactly what Altria’s motives are. Altria wants to keep as many Coloradans smoking as possible and is prepared to spend a boatload of money to make sure that happens.

There are special interests and corporations on both sides of this issue, but the opposition definitely has taken corporate spending to new heights. At CleanSlateNow.org we prefer  when campaigns and committees finance their efforts with small donations from a broad coalition of voters. However, we recognize we aren’t there yet and many issues are supported primarily by opposing special interest groups. When this happens all we can do is research the groups in question and try to determine their motivations, along with the impacts of the legislation or ballot measures they’re backing.

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Jon Biggerstaff

Executive Director, Clean Slate Now

[email protected]