In the coming months, Louisiana citizens will have the opportunity to vote on six new amendments to the Louisiana Constitution; one in particular could have a significant impact on the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS).
Five new amendments will be on the ballot on October 22: “Reducing the Financial Liability of State Retirement Systems,” “Protecting the Patient’s Compensation Fund,” “Managing the Budget Stabilization ‘Rainy Day’ Fund,” “Updating the Census Change in a New Orleans Tax Sales Law” and “Funding TOPS and Sustaining Cigarette Tax Revenue.”
According to the Public Affairs Research Council, the “Funding TOPS and Sustaining Cigarette Tax Revenue” amendment has two parts. First, if this amendment were to pass, annual tobacco settlement proceeds from the Millennium Trust Fund would be redirected to the TOPS college scholarship fund.
“We in the Student Government Association (SGA) are encouraged by any initiative in legislature that guarantees the pursuit of higher education,” said SGA President Luke Holloway. “So many of our students at Southeastern depend on the TOPS program, and we are excited that with this Constitutional Amendment, TOPS would possess the constitutional backing that it truly deserves to provide our students with the necessary funding to provide them with a Southeastern education.”
Members of the student body also share Holloway’s view of the amendment.
“In my opinion, the ‘Funding TOPS and Sustaining Cigarette Tax Revenue’ amendment would prove to be a beneficial permanent change,” said Kayla McCaleb, a freshman majoring in elementary education. “TOPS is responsible for providing many students with an opportunity to receive a college education. The more money the fund gets, the more students will get a chance at an education.”
The second part of the amendment would allow a four cents tax on each pack of cigarettes to become permanent rather than expiring next year. Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed the bill that would have made this decade-old temporary tax permanent, which is why it was added to the positively supported TOPS measure. However, some are not happy about this portion of the proposal.
“A cigarette tax should not be a permanent fixture of our Constitution,” said Mike Nettles, an advisor at the Center for Student Excellence. “Because cigarettes are addictive and harmful any taxation of the product should be spent on rehabilitating the addict, not punishing them with ever increasing costs. If you jack prices up to the point where they are cost prohibitive over all consumption and, thus, revenue may decline. Why rely on people damaging themselves to fund education? It’s unethical because you would have to pray for more addicts to fund our education budget instead of fixing our systemic and long term problems.”
Students, on the other hand, are focused primarily on the fact that TOPS would be receiving more money from the Millennium Trust than the fact that a cigarette tax would become permanent.
“I personally think it’s a great idea,” said James Fox, a freshman majoring in music performance. “The tax won’t be enough to cause harm to the tobacco companies, yet [the amendment] will definitely begin to bring more back to the students and hopefully better the chances for students to acquire their education.”
For more detailed information on each of the amendments, visit www.la-par.org and read the PAR Guide to the 2011 Constitutional Amendments. Voting begins on Oct. 22 and Nov. 19, 2011.