One of every three high school students in South Carolina smokes cigarettes. Almost 6,000 South Carolinians die each year from tobacco-related illnesses, which cost the state $1 billion each year to treat. Of that, $393 million is paid by the state Medicaid program. The tax burden associated with smoking costs the average South Carolina household $578 per year. South Carolina’s state cigarette tax of seven cents per pack is by far the lowest in the nation.

Because increasing the state tax on cigarettes is the best way to reduce smoking and smoking related death and disease, South Carolina needs to increase its state tax on cigarettes. Not only would this save lives and money, it would also increase state revenue, providing funding for important health care needs.

For example, channeling a  portion of the new tax revenue into the Medicaid program where it would be matched almost three federal dollars for every state dollar invested would be a unique way to provide health care to the state’s poorest citizens for a third the cost and boost the state’s economy.

• The Toll of Tobacco in South Carolina