A S.C. House subcommittee Thursday took a step toward moving young people away from a bad habit when it sent to the Ways and Means Committee a pair of bills that channel money to smoking-cessation programs.

The money for the program is a provision of bills that would raise the state's cigarette tax by 30 cents and 32 cents, respectively. H. 4888, authored by Rep. Rex Rice, R-Easley, would designate 4 percent of the tax to youth smoking prevention, and H. 4850, authored by Rep. Paul Agnew, D-Abbeville, would assign $1.5 million for prevention and add an inflation increase so the tax would automatically increase.

While tax critics, including a policy analyst with the S.C. Policy Council, say that increasing the cigarette tax could harm the state's economy, the House is on the right track. Burnie Maybank, a senior follow with the S.C. Policy Council, even makes a case that increasing the tax may not have the desired effect because the escalating cost of cigarettes hasn't been an effective deterrent.

But the programs supported with these bills could help a sizeable number of teenagers -- and adults -- kick the habit. The legislation may have more of an effect than laws approved last year making it illegal for kids to smoke cigarettes.

Statistics reported two years ago said that about a third of S.C.'s teenagers smoke, and they face a dismal future without help from the state. Taxpayers also face a huge bill trying to pay for the harm caused by smoking.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 90,000 students will die in the years ahead because they started smoking when they were teenagers.

Sadly, South Carolinians spend annually $800 million on health-related costs that stem from the effects of smoking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommends that South Carolina spend 24 percent of the $100 million the state gets annually from tobacco taxes and investment return from a one-time federal tobacco settlement on programs to help people kick the habit of smoking.

According to data from the CDC and the 2000 census, more South Carolinians die each year of smoking-related illnesses than from AIDS, liver disease, breast cancer, car accidents and several other causes combined. Data show that 5,992 people died in 2004 of smoking-related illnesses. That is nearly twice as many as a select group of causes, including murder, suicide, infant death, illegal drugs and fires.

South Carolina is among five states that spend the least to eradicate smoking among the population. Since 2000, South Carolina has spent less than 1 percent of a $912 million one-time settlement from tobacco companies. Legislators didn't earmark even a dime in the last two fiscal years.

An investment in cessation programs hasn't materialized even though it could prevent the hemorrhage of money on smoking-induced disease. Kids are ill-equipped to kick the habit on their own. This bill is the first attempt in years to invest in programs to help kids kick the habit.

The consequences of failing to see this tax through are monumental -- fiscally and physically.