It is no secret that smoking is an expensive habit though we may not realize it on daily basis. Cigarette smoking will have a huge impact on our budget by the end of the year. And this should get worse once the price per pack shoots up. Few days ago a lobbying group appealed to the legislative to increase the cigarette tax. This new law will hike the current cigarette tax from 17 cents per pack to 40 cents per pack, roughly a 135 percent increase. This will hurt the cigarette companies a lot. It is said this raise of tax would fund transportation projects and children’s initiatives in the state. Ron Leon, executive director of Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said of his group’s proposal “Would this solve our transportation problems? No. Would it help our problems? Absolutely.”

Missouri and Virginia have the least expensive cigarettes in the country, at  $ 5.25 a pack and New York currently has the most expensive cigarettes in the country, at $ 14.50 a pack. For each pack they are spending money from their own budget.

    According to different studies, cigarettes and other tobacco products are only second to alcohol in their danger to humans. After a long time of smoking their health will deteriorate slowly which eventually may lead to cancer and different types of lung diseases. The costs for their treatment and hospitalization should also be calculated while buying cigarettes which may sum up to any amount above $10000. Cigarette smoking also causes air pollution harming others including children and babies.

Cigarette consumers may say they are smoking because it helps with stress and mood swings, but they do not realize the stress they’ll have to undergo later while being sick and spending huge amount on treatments. Paying a little money for a pack of cigarette now leads to paying thousands of dollars for trying to regain their health. Smokers know tobacco use is injurious to health but they still smoke. Why do we need to destroy our health when we already know how dangerous cigarettes are?

According to dosomething.org -an organization that helps to prevent lots of crisis around the world, 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 19. It is also reported teen smokers are more likely to have panic attacks, anxiety disorders and depression and 30 percent of teen smokers will die at a very young age. This single tobacco product can ruin your entire health, attitude and life. Cigarettes are slow poison that kills a person inch by inch.

There are people who are in favor of smoking cigarettes as well as those who are against smoking cigarettes. I stand by those who are against smoking cigarettes because cigarette smoking not only does no good but also does harm to the individual and the society as a whole. Raising the cigarette tax is the best thing that State of Missouri is doing because it might reduce the number of cigarette packs purchased. I strongly believe that after voting, majority of  people will be in favor of raising tax. The cigarette tax has not been increased yet though campaigns for raising the tax are already on the move.

The legislative said they need to collect signatures from residents of Missouri in order to increase tax. They need to collect a minimum of 157,788 signatures from six of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. It is said if the tax is increased St. Louis County, with the highest population of young children in the state, would gain about $37.5 million in funding. St. Louis would gain nearly $14 million. St. Charles and Jefferson counties would gain $15.7 million.

But, looking back to other votings that took place in Missouri, voters have turned down other tax raising in the past years. In 2012 when they asked the residents to raise tobacco taxes by 73 cents a pack. Around 51 percent of voters rejected even though there was a plan to raise $283 million for smoking cessation programs. For time being it is a big question mark on whether the voters would reject like last time or pass it.