What readers say about increasing cigarette tax

Editor's note: Our Monday guest editorial from the Savannah Morning News said an increase in the tax on cigarettes would be a win-win for our state. Here is a sampling of readers' reactions posted on times-herald.com

-- I'm all for decreasing smoking, but, once again, you are creating a false sense of income. This will decrease over time, then where will the money come from? Don't balance on something that can not be sustained from year to year.

-- I think smoking is a disgustingly filthy habit, but it is wrong to tax users because of their addiction. Users do not care about the cost to get their fix, so this will not curb smoking. It only pushes them closer to stealing and cheating to pay the extra tax. Here is a better idea, reduce government size, drastically cut spending and cut taxes.


-- Here's your sustainable tax: Alcohol. People might be discouraged from smoking by the tax, but they will never give up alcohol.

-- Oh boy, here we go. First, cigarettes. Next, booze. After that, maybe fast food? I'm not a smoker -- deplore it -- but I am against more taxes. What part of "cut" do people just not get? It's pure folly to believe increasing cost will "reduce smoking." I've seen smokers brave hurricane weather to take a puff. A $1 extra will hardly scare them off.

-- Why not deal with the problem and cut spending? Deal with the real problem.

-- I don't smoke, but instead of punishing the consumer, the tax should instead be levied on the tobacco companies.

-- This is a good idea. Also, why not increase the tax on alcohol, and even better, place a sin tax on porn? Win, win, win.

-- If you put this tax on the tobacco companies, they simply turn it around and pass it on to the consumer inclusively. This is why the fair tax gets pushed a lot.