Actually, statewide plastic bag fee legislation uses the same faulty logic as Newsom's proposed cigarette fee ostensibly does -- it simply generates the amount we supposedly pay for plastic bag cleanup by using the simplistic aforementioned equation. But, personally, I'm fine with it. The money generated by charging for plastic bags could be used to buy lottery tickets, and it'd still be worth it. The simple act of having to pay for bags should convince people to bring their own to stores -- and that'll do the environment some good.
Placing a fee on cigarettes will not have that upside -- though it could, theoretically, dissuade people from getting started with the habit. Even still, it'd be hard to predict any city politician going against this. In fact, the only folks quoted in this Times article who are upset, predictably, are cigarette company executives who protest the effect this could have on consumers' wallets; they care so much about those folks that they're selling them a product everyone knows is lethal. What stand-up guys!
So good luck to Newsom and his fee-to-be. Let's hope his number-crunchers factored in the very real possibility of serious smokers simply heading over to Daly City to stock up on cigs. Over there, we hear, they don't have extra fees on cigarettes. They also don't have a $500 million budget shortfall.
