California Voters Reject Cigarette Tax

The AP is reporting that voters in California have narrowly voted down a proposed $1-per-pack cigarette tax that would have helped fund cancer research in the state. The vote, on the ballot as Proposition 29, fell by less than a percentage point.

Opponents of the bill spent upward of $47 million in attempting to strike down the measure, while those in support raised only $12 million. The rise would have been California’s first tobacco tax increase in 14 years.