I don’t smell smoke; I smell a good old-fashioned “tea tax.” Gov. Angus King is already charging 74 cents per pack of cigarettes and now wants to increase it by another 26 cents, making a nice rounded figure of $1 of tax per pack. This amounts to one segment of the population paying a tax the rest of the population does not have to pay.

This tax money along with the money from the federal government from lawsuits is to be paying down the state’s budget and to help buy medicine for the elderly (and what ever little roads, new clothes or other perks he thinks he may need or want). That may all be well and good, but I did not create the state’s budget by myself, nor did all the other smokers.

Maybe a lot of smokers are generous, but does that mean we alone are responsible for the debts the governor makes? The governor claims, as do some of our legislators, the money is needed to pay for all the smoking-related illnesses that are and will be in the future. The fact is, all the money the state is paying now is not restricted to the smokers. The state is paying for anyone and all illnesses, for those who cannot afford it. It does not matter if they smoke or not. Secondly, I know of none of the cigarette tax money that is earmarked for smoking-related illnesses only.

We as smokers who apparently pay our share of taxes plus a large share of everyone else’s get no help from this same governor if we want to quit. I have spoken to my state senator, Judy Paradis, at least two or three times concerning getting help from the state to buy patches, Zyban, etc., with no avail. We pay and have been paying all these extra taxes, but if we want to quit smoking, we get none of our own tax money back to help. I would say the governor does not want us to quit; he would lose too much revenue.

I, for one, do not approve of smoking. It is a nasty addiction and I would encourage anyone to quit if they can. On the other hand, if you can’t quit and since the state that is stealing our money won’t help us quit, then I encourage all my fellow smokers to buy your cigarettes online and pay no state tax at all. They will save between $7 and $12 per carton. There are many sites on the Internet such as www.dirtcheapcig.com.

Maybe if the governor starts to lose his tax money from us, he may realize how much this one segment of the population is paying. At that point, with nothing to lose, he might start to offer help to those who would like to quit smoking.

Gov. King tries to make himself out to be a hero by being a crusader against smoking and saving lives. I don’t know of anyone who has gone off the road and killed someone, destroying lives and families while smoking and driving. On the other hand, thousands are killed every year by those who choose to drink and drive. That doesn’t take into account all the medical problems that result from drinking alcohol. Not to mention a smoker usually does not beat his family when smoking.

A smoker usually does not start brawls when smoking. A smoker usually does not show flagrant disregard for the law when smoking. Best of all, a smoker remembers what he did the day before, even if he was smoking.

None of this, however, can be said about the person who consumes alcohol. So why not charge an extra dollar of tax per can of beer?

Michael Bresett lives in Van Buren.