The fact is a 30-cent increase won't mean an increase in the retail price. The cigarette industry will simply keep prices the same and absorb the increase themselves, only to gradually raise the price later, often more than the amount of the cigarette tax increase, to recoup their losses.

Sizeable tobacco taxes are a proven way to reduce smoking, especially among kids and pregnant women. That's the best reason to make the increase as large as possible. The drastic budget cuts that will be needed without a larger cigarette tax increase are yet another reason.

If that's not enough, according to a poll we released in January along with other health organizations, 69 percent of Kentucky voters support a $1 tax increase, which is slightly more than support for a 70-cent increase.

And while some retailers who sell cigarettes at cheaper prices than our neighboring states may see a small drop in sales, experience from other states shows that there is no evidence that tobacco tax increases harm the overall retail economy. That's because most people who save money by quitting or cutting back simply spend it on other products. And when you factor in the enormous health benefits of an increased tax, the choice for our legislators should be an easy one: protect the health of Kentuckians by passing a substantial cigarette tax increase.

The voters understand that the human toll and financial toll - over 7,000 deaths and more than $1 billion in health care costs - is a price Kentucky can no longer afford to pay.

Contact your state representative and senator by calling 800-372-7181.  Ask them to pass a 70-cent increase in the tobacco tax. Anything less won't do much, if anything, to tackle our No. 1 preventable cause of death. Our refusal as a state to deal aggressively with the tobacco problem is costing us and killing us.