Cigarette Tax

Paul Golde (letter, July 28) is right on target in urging drivers who smoke to use their ashtrays instead of polluting our roadsides. I suggest that bad habits are only broken through tough and enforced regulations (i.e., use of seat belts).

We should encourage our lawmakers to create a new 1-cent tax to be placed on every cigarette sold to cover the cost of cleaning up our streets and freeways. Cigarette butts are the most ubiquitous (and non-biodegradable) items littering our landscape, as anyone who has crept along the freeways during rush hour can attest.

Smokers should bear the consequences of their habits; we should not have our roadways trashed.

DOUGLAS NESLUND

Los Angeles