Supporters of California’s Prop 56 – the proposed tobacco tax increase – launched a new statewide TV ad this week.
The ad portrays a mother concerned about her young daughter, who dances through the house wearing butterfly wings.
The mother says she favors the tax hike “because she is my daughter and the Surgeon General says that raising tobacco taxes is a proven way to make sure she never smokes. That's why I'm voting yes on 56.”
Yes on 56 advertisement
The ad comes days after the tobacco industry raised another $18 million to fight the tax increase. Past industry has helped the No on 56 campaign pay for ads including this one:
It says, in part, “The special interests are claiming prop 56 is all about helping people stop smoking but only thirteen percent of the new tobacco tax would actually help people quit.”
No on 56 advertisement
PolitiFact California fact-checked a separate claim from the ad above. That fact check is here.
The Yes on 56 campaign, meanwhile, has raised nearly $18 million total to support the initiative.
Prop 56 would impose a $2 per pack cigarette tax increase. It’s one of 17 measures on November’s ballot.
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