Missouri Petroleum Marketers Back 23-Cent Cigarette Tax Hike

A group of Missouri gas station and convenience store owners is backing taxing cigarettes an additional 23 cents per pack.

The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association on Monday announced it is filing two similar initiative petitions for the tax increase.

The initiative petitions would change state law to hike the current cigarette tax from 17 cents to 40 cents per pack, a roughly 135 percent increase.

The petitions also call for a 50 percent tax increase on other tobacco products.

Missouri now has the lowest cigarette tax in the country.

The association estimates the taxes would raise more than $800 million in a decade. One petition would funnel that money into the state's general revenue fund. The other would set revenue aside for transportation needs.