[Vince Ferrer]

While they are wringing their hands over all this "lost" revenue, progressives will never tell you that cigarette taxes are extremely regressive, hitting the poor hardest.

In a study conducted on behalf of the New York State Department of Health, it revealed that low-income smokers (those in households making under $30,000), spent an average of 23.6% of their annual household income on cigarettes, compared to 2.2% for smokers in households making over $60,000.[15]

Cigarette taxes in the United States

[ansel12]

The wealthy, upper middle class and educated, have largely quit smoking.