Congress Goes After Big Tobacco

On the surface this seems like a good idea:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate struck a historic blow against smoking in America Thursday, voting overwhelmingly to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in the cigarettes that kill nearly a half-million people a year, to drastically curtail ads that glorify tobacco and to ban flavored products aimed at spreading the habit to young people.

President Barack Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.

I looked through the article and what isn't addressed here are the millions of dollars in taxes that will be lost, taxes that the government has been counting on to fund a variety of health and other programs.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for reducing or eliminating smoking. It's just that tax upon tax has been levied on smoking to fund all sorts of whims and when that money starts drying up, what do you think's gonna happen?