$moker$

Starting January 1, 2007, smokers in Texas will have to pay an extra dollar per pack of cigarettes. The price of a carton of cigarettes will, therefore, increase $10.

The anticipated windfall in tax revenues will supposedly be used to help fund our schools. Just like some specialty license plates were supposed to fund state parks.

A large portion of the Texas state lottery (finally) is used to fund public schools, but school taxes are still high. The Texas legislature has reportedly been unable to come up with an adequate plan to fund

The new cash cow for Texas politicians comes in the form of people who refuse to quit smoking (how dare they keep lighting up!). The current taxes on tobacco products have not provided the politicians with the revenues they crave, possibly because the number of smokers keeps dropping.

You can bet that somewhere in the bowels of Texas state government, actuaries have been hard at work determining just how much more tax can be levied on smokers until the number of smokers is reduced to the point of diminishing returns.