Thanks to North Carolina, South Carolina now has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation. North Carolina had held that distinction, but in September raised its 5-cents-a-pack tax to 30 cents. The tax will increase to 35 cents in July 2006.

Meanwhile, South Carolina's cigarette tax remains steady at 7 cents a pack, the nation's lowest and 25 cents below the Southeast average of 32 cents a pack. That makes the state a natural destination for cigarette smugglers.

Traffickers in cheap smokes can load up a truck with cartons of cigarettes purchased in South Carolina and drive them to New York, where the sales tax on a pack of cigarettes is $3. A thousand cartons from South Carolina sold in the Big Apple could bring profits of nearly $30,000.

South Carolina doesn't affix tax stamps to cigarette packs. State officials say the stamps are expensive and don't benefit the state. But that also makes this state's cigarettes more attractive to smugglers. They can simply glue on a counterfeit stamp in the state where they are unloading the cigarettes.

New York and some other Northern states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, are trying to reduce the illegal trade in cheap cigarettes. But enforcement is difficult and, as law enforcement officials note, cigarette smuggling can be safer and more profitable than drug trafficking.

Perhaps it's understandable that South Carolina officials have little desire to expend limited law enforcement resources to help another state curb cigarette smuggling. And, as S.C. Revenue Department Director Burnie Maybank notes, the purpose of tax stamps is to "make sure taxes are paid in South Carolina, not to protect higher taxes in New York state."

Nonetheless, the inequity of South Carolina's cigarette tax with others in the region and, more markedly, in other parts of the nation indicates that the state's cigarette tax is too low. It's not only the lowest in the nation but also well below cigarette taxes in the region.

The state could be collecting more from smokers and putting the money to good use. One idea, mentioned frequently over the years, would be to devote money from a higher cigarette tax to boosting the state's share of Medicaid funding. That, in turn would bring in more federal matching funds, which contribute $2.25 for every dollar the state puts in the kitty.

As an added bonus, studies have shown that higher cigarette taxes reduce smoking, especially among young smokers, who usually have less money to spend on cigarettes. In other words, hiking the cigarette tax could contribute to a healthier population in several ways.

South Carolina doesn't have to raise its cigarette tax to New York levels. But, come next summer, South Carolina's cigarette tax will be 28 cents lower than North Carolina's.

That offers ample leeway to raise the tax, help South Carolina's neediest citizens, perhaps reduce cigarette smuggling -- and still maintain one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation.