Raise Tax on Cigarettes

Legislators have chance to make S.C. healthier

We've been reluctant to support increasing South Carolina's lowest-in-the-nation 7 cents-per-pack cigarette tax, for fear that legislators would be tapping the wallets of tobacco addicts who have no choice but to pay. But a health-focused group, the S.C. Tobacco Collaborative, makes a persuasive data-based case that a higher tax would deter young people from taking up smoking while prompting a significant number of smokers to quit. The collaborative also makes a persuasive case that legislators would suffer no political consequences from raising the cigarette tax.

That's why the House Ways and Means subcommittee looking into the issue did well this week to adopt two bills to raise the tax - one by 30 cents per pack, the other by 32 cents per pack. These bills merit serious consideration from the Horry County delegation, and not only because they'd bring in millions per year in new revenue.

If a higher tax can leverage broad health benefits for South Carolinians - and we now believe it could - legislators have a moral obligation to adopt one.