Already touting one of the highest cigarette taxes in the country, legislators in Olympia, led by Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Medina), vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, are poised to bilk even more from the pockets of Washington’s most regulated sinners — smokers.



As was announced on Tuesday, Jan 27, Tom recently introduced Senate Bill 5626 — which, if passed, will increase the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack, or 5 cents a smoke. The idea, according to Tom, supporters of Senate Bill 5626, and a press release distributed shortly after the bill’s introduction, is to pay for the healthcare cost smokers and their dirty lungs inflict on Washington’s budget, and pay for prevention programs by taking money directly from the sinners themselves.



Sounds reasonable, right? If it weren’t for wretched smokers there wouldn’t be the high cost of caring for them once Joe Camel infests their chests with tar and tumors. The bill isn’t about raising money, say its supporters, it’s about stopping people from smoking, avoiding cuts in smoking prevention programs and preventing new smokers from lighting up in the first place. Oh, and preserving “other healthcare priorities at risk in the current budget negotiations,” according to the release.



The only problem is that’s a load of crap, except probably for that last part.

In Washington, and other places, we refer to the tax on cigarettes as a “sin tax.” This, of course, suggests that those who smoke are engaging in some sort of undesirable act. It suggests smoking is bad, which it is, at least when it comes to living a long and healthy life. When selling new taxes to the public, it’s much easier to convince folks to tax only a certain portion of the population — especially the “sinners.” If you don’t smoke, then you won’t pay. And if you do smoke, we’ve already established you’re a bad person — so you deserve it. And all the money raised will go to help solve a problem that the sinners among us cause.



That’s the way it’s usually sold, anyway, and since the majority of people in Washington don’t smoke, in the past it has usually worked. That’s how we came to have the fifth highest cigarette tax in the country.



Unfortunately, not only do we like to brand smokers sinners in Washington, but we also have a long history of collecting money from them and then spending it in other places — like the general fund. In these economically difficult times, imagine what would happen if Washington didn’t have its monstrous cigarette tax to count on. Something tells me we’d be looking for other “sinners” to make up the difference.



When Sen. Tom says in the press release hyping Senate Bill 5626, “It’s not about revenue, it’s about health savings,” you know he’s lying. Here’s how, and it’s really simple:



If this was really about just stopping people from smoking (especially the poor, poor children) and paying for prevention — wouldn’t (shouldn’t) they just make smoking illegal? A day when no one smokes is what they say they’re working toward. They already demonize smokers as sinners, so what’s stopping them?



Oh, yeah — it’s the money. As long as Washington has smokers there’ll be a familiar dog to kick and shake nickels out of.



In economic times like these, thank god for sinners.