Regardless of what the future holds for the state’s Dirigo Health plan, a proposal to raise the tax on cigarettes – whether to bolster Dirigo or any other health-related endeavor – has little downside when compared to the positive potential to further dampen the scourge that is tobacco addiction.

A coalition of anti-smoking groups wants the Legislature to modify a proposal that would add 50 cents to the cigarette tax to help fund Dirigo to instead raise the tax by $1. The tax is presently $2. A pack of Marlboros was selling for $5.87 with tax this week at an area convenience store, so the additional $1 tax would push the cost to $6.87, meaning that each cigarette would cost about 34 cents.

Among those speaking against a higher cigarette tax was an advocate for small grocery and convenience stores. If the tax were increased, he argued, many Mainers will drive to New Hampshire, the state with no sales tax, and load up with cartons of cigarettes, thereby depriving Maine stores of sales. With the higher per pack price, customers at small stores will spend less money on other impulse purchases.

No average smokers, who will be most directly affected by a higher cigarette tax, were speaking to legislators (too busy working and unable to afford to lose pay to travel to Augusta).

Tobacco addiction is not easily beaten, and nonsmokers should not make light of the burden smokers bear. But there is a greater good to be achieved by increasing the cost of cigarettes, even if it means taking another dollar or two a day from the working poor (studies show that most smokers have lower than average incomes).

Health officials estimate tobacco kills 2,200 Mainers each year, and that $600 million in annual health care costs in Maine can be linked to smoking. That’s $500 per Maine resident, or more than a dollar a day – more than the bite the extra tax would take. And if the concern about the economic plight of smokers is genuine, then perhaps nudging them to quit and save the $5.87 per day is the best outcome.

The higher tax can change lives, especially if some of the additional tax revenue is dedicated to smoking prevention programs. The American Lung Association of Maine reports that a survey showed 75 percent of Mainers support raising the cigarette tax.

Though it could be argued that raising the tax at some point becomes the same as outlawing cigarettes, such an approach may be the best way to get smokers to quit, and dissuade teens from starting. Prohibition of substances rarely works, but putting a hurt on an individual’s wallet, coupled with the ticking time bomb of the health threat, may be enough to add to the ranks of ex-smokers.