Increase of the tobacco tax by $2

Cigarette taxes are proven to reduce smoking, especially in teens considering taking up the harmful habit. Smoking has direct and indirect costs on society such as healthcare and lost worker productivity from tobacco-related health problems, respectively, justifying a cigarette tax as an efficient way to internalize such externalities.

Opposition raises legitimate questions around how the proceeds would be allocated (for example, 5% of post-replacement revenue for administration seems quite high, given tobacco taxes already exist), but ultimately the taxation itself is more important than the proceeds given tobacco’s cost on society.