Debunking the "Tax Thee, But Not Me" Myth: Five Reasons Why Non-Smokers Should Oppose High Tobacco Taxes

"Whether or not an individual uses tobacco, tax hikes hurt everyone by encouraging the growth of government. As demonstrated in this Issue Brief, high cigarette taxes reflect a tendency to grow total tax burdens. Furthermore, tobacco tax hikes rarely precipitate tax relief elsewhere or even stave off future tax hikes. If tied to new spending, tobacco tax hikes can trigger future tax hikes once cigarette revenues decline. Finally, tobacco tax hikes don't correlate with economic growth.

While tobacco tax increases will assuredly come up as funding 'solutions' in the future, taxpayers – smokers and non-smokers alike – would be better served by extinguishing such a notion and instead focusing on cutting the size of government."