Even as federal cigarette tax jumped to $1.01, an increase of 62-cents a pack, smokers paid higher prices Wednesday, as levies on cigarettes and other tobacco products rose dramatically.

While, this has obviously upset smokers, it is an excellent opportunity for smokers to do what they always say they are going to do i. e. quit smoking. Seven out of ten smokers say they are keen to kick the habit, not without good reason, as those who do stop smoking, significantly reduce their risk of dying prematurely.

As well, they cut the risk of second hand smoke damage, especially to children, as children raised around a smoker have considerably higher rates of asthma, including frequent and severe respiratory infections.

Higher cigarette tax will raise money that will be used for funding health care for poor children, which has many smokers in a tizzy, as they say they are being forced to subsidize services for others. However, the truth is for years, smokers have been subsidized by the rest of us, and higher federal taxes imposed on smokers comes nowhere near covering the cost they impose on society.

The direct medical cost of tobacco-related illness e. g. what is paid for doctors, hospitals, surgery and extras like oxygen, is nearly $97-billion a year, costing Medicare about $19-billion, while Medicaid programmes shell out about $31-billion. In order to recoup all that money, the cost for a pack of cigarettes should be $10.28.

The toll inflicted by tobacco is heavy, killing 440,000 Americans a year, no other preventable cause of illness or death, such as, drinking, obesity or illegal drug use, comes close to the toll inflicted by smoking.

Perhaps, higher taxes will provide a new initiative for many smokers, especially young smokers to give it up.