Set the question aside and just increase the tax
THEIR VIEW

For nearly three hours, senators argued over how to divvy up the spoils, sparring over philosophy and pragmatism and slights real and imagined, rejecting one plan after another by the narrowest of margins before finally adopting one, by a single-vote margin that all but guarantees it won't pass the full Senate.

And somewhere near the end of the debate, Sen. Wes Hayes reminded everybody of the most important issue - the one practically nobody was discussing in the rush to claim the cash: the cigarette tax itself.

He would support a plan to pump $53 million into Medicaid even though he preferred to finance health insurance tax credits, he told the Senate Finance Committee, because it accomplished a goal larger than raising money.

Just so no one missed the point, Chairman Hugh Leatherman elaborated after the vote: "I want to see the cigarette tax go up so we can cut down on smoking, particularly among the teenage youngsters out there." ...

If the Senate, or the House, or the Senate and the House can't agree on how to spend the money from a higher cigarette tax, then they should set that question aside for now. Lock the money away in a vault until they can agree on what to do with it, if need be. Just increase the cigarette tax - and start saving children from one of the deadliest addictions on earth.

The (Columbia) State