Tobacco tax is like speed cameras — a thinly-veiled money grab

Well, once again the editorial board at The Sun has jumped back in bed with Vincent DeMarco and his Maryland Citizens Health Initiative in supporting an additional $1 increase on Maryland's tax on cigarettes ("A life-saving tax," Nov. 26). As usual, we get the argument that hundreds of thousands of people die each year from smoking, and if we just raise that tax another dollar per pack, then people will finally kick the habit, etc. And let's not forget how the new higher price will discourage "the children" from smoking in the first place because we all know when they doubled the tax to $2 in 2007 virtually all the teenagers stopped smoking ( at least that's what they told us would happen back then).

November 29, 2012