[Ghoulish Delight]

I've seen the argument before, but I've mostly overlooked it because I connected the cig. taxes to the anti-smoking propaganda programs. And whether or not I agree with those programs, at least it was a fairly closed system in that if tax revenue dropped due to successful deterrence, then need for that tax revenue would also drop since less propaganda would theoretically be needed.

But seeing it linked to SCHIP got under my skin because it's so removed. The "smoking=2nd hand smoke=need for child health insurance" link is tenuous at best. If all smokers were to suddenly quit, that would not make the need for SCHIP disappear, so it doesn't seem to make sense to me to link the funding so directly to it.

And while I'm not necessarily in favor of government being responsible for discouraging smoking, I'm uneasy about creating a motivation for encouraging it.