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My reasoning on this one is a bit different than many of the others who support a higher cigarette tax. It so happens that I smoke. I don't particularly want the cost to go up, but I do support a higher tax-if the tax is used for a specific purpose. (For instance, I support higher taxes on the price of gasoline as long as the surplus tax money is used for highway repairs and things of that nature.) If higher cigarette tax money is used for education of junior high and high school aged kids and helps reduce the chance of their ever starting smoking, I could support that. The easiest way to quit smoking is to never start. If higher taxes help more kids to never start, thus improving the overall health of the nation, I'm all for it.

There was a time when I was against higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and other so-called "sin taxes." My thinking was, why penalize someone for doing something that really only hurts him/herself? But, I've come to realize that, when a person engages in activities that are harmful to him/her self, it still affects all of us, financially. When enough people are "doing the wrong things" from a health standpoint, we all pay in the form of increased medical costs, increased insurance premiums and a host of other costs that affect everyone-not just the user. It is for this reason that I've had a turnaround in opinion.

There are other reasons to support a higher cigarette tax. If the costs of cigarettes goes high enough, this may provide the impetus for a good number of smokers to quit. I know that I've "quit" a number of times-just because of the cost. Even now, I don't smoke nearly as much as I used to. I used to smoke a pack to a pack and a quarter of cigarettes per day. Nowadays, a pack of cigarettes lasts me between three and four days. For people who've never smoked that may still sound like a lot, but this is a drastic improvement. If higher taxes end up causing a number of smokers to quit, that's another good thing.

Are high taxes on cigarettes fair? Perhaps "fair" isn't exactly the right word. But, if raising taxes on cigarettes can keep a few thousand kids from ever starting to smoke. If raising taxes can cause the users of harmful substances to stop using the substances to begin with. If the raising of taxes helps better the overall health of the nation, then it might just be the best thing for everybody.

Learn more about this author, Paul Schingle.
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