From the editorial page of The State: Time of the essence for cigarette tax debate

By BRAD HUTTO and JOHN MATTHEWS - Guest Columnist
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to increase South Carolina’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax. Our cigarette tax is only 7 cents per pack and has not been raised since 1977. The national average for state cigarette taxes has climbed to $1.11 per pack and will continue to increase as four states enact additional increases this year. We must address this life-saving legislation as soon as possible.
South Carolina ranks 45th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs. South Carolina currently allocates $2 million a year for tobacco prevention, which is just 8 percent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation. It would take only a few pennies of our cigarette tax increase to fund prevention programs on a recurring basis. In addition to saving lives by reducing smoking-caused heart disease, lung cancer and other diseases, studies show that the best programs have saved as much as $3 in smoking-caused health costs for every dollar spent on tobacco prevention.
We urge our fellow senators not to wait any longer to pass a significant cigarette tax increase. We have the opportunity to save our kids from the ravages of tobacco addiction. What better message could we send to our constituents back home?