It makes sense for South Carolina to raise its cigarette tax

There is really no reason for the General Assembly not to increase the cigarette tax in this year's state budget.

The tax is popular. It is needed. Going without it would require more painful budget cuts. And passing it is expected to help keep teenagers off tobacco.

South Carolina's 7-cent per pack tax is the fourth lowest in the nation. For most products, that would be a good thing. But it doesn't serve the state well to have cheap cigarettes.

The state is in a tremendously tight budget for yet another year. The state budget has been cut and cut again. Some new money would be more than welcome.

Gov. Mark Sanford has proposed raising the cigarette tax to 62 cents per pack and using the revenue to cut the state income tax rates.

A previous proposal that made some progress in the legislature last year would use cigarette tax revenue to fund Medicaid.

Either use of the money would provide significant benefits to the state. Lowering the income tax rate would spur economic and job growth. Funding Medicaid would improve health care and bring more federal matching funds into the state.

But simply refusing the money by failing to pass an increase in the tax makes no sense.

After all, this is a tax that actually has benefits beyond the revenue it generates. Experts predict the increased cost of cigarettes will lead to a 21 percent decline in youth smoking and will spur 44,000 people to quit smoking.

Yet lawmakers continue to oppose the tax. Some oppose it because they are unwilling to support any tax increase. That kind of hard-line ideological view ignores the financial circumstances of the state and the benefits of this tax.

Others oppose the tax because they say it is unfair to tax smokers beyond the level of other state citizens. These lawmakers should support the tax to pay for Medicaid and other health care, for which smokers will have increased demand.

It makes sense for the health and the finances of the state to increase the cigarette tax. Lawmakers should add this measure to the state budget.

More Headlines