6.7 billion dollars over the next 25 years is the figure used over and over to describe the amount of money Missouri will receive from the national tobacco settlement. That figure has now been revised sharply lower. State Budget Director Mark Ward says the new estimate is 4.5 billion dollars. Ward says inflation had been factored in but a 14% drop in tobacco sales wasn’t known until the first payments were made to states. He says state officials released the initial figure to provide an idea of the value of the tobacco settlement.
