Last year the Texas Legislature imposed a $1 per-pack tax on cigarettes, expecting to curtail the use of the cancer-causing habit, while at the same time, helping to offset loss of revenue caused by cuts in local property taxes.  The state's $1 tax increase on cigarettes generated $244 million more than expected this year as cigarette sales didn't decline as quickly as anti-smoking advocates had hoped. Budget experts predicted that adding the $1-per-pack tax, on top of the previous 41-cent tax, would raise revenues to about a billion dollars for fiscal 2007. But the cigarette tax brought in $1.248 billion  in the fiscal year, which only included eight months of the higher tobacco tax.
 
One could look at those figures and deduce that the tax has caused an increase in smoking. Is it possible that some people believe the product is more valuable if it costs more? After all, that’s pretty much how we look at jewelry, clothing and automobiles. The question is, if it was determined that more people would turn to smoking if the price continued to increase, would the government be sanguine about it as long as they accumulated more revenue? Anti-smoking groups agree that the increased taxes produce a good deal more revenue, but they are critical of the state leaders for not using some of the money to fund stop-smoking programs. A proposal to funnel 5 percent of the new tax money to anti-smoking programs was defeated in the Legislature this year. It makes you wonder if the state really wants people to quit those cancer sticks.