Tobacco Tax Repeal

I am one of an army of cigar smokers who buy exclusively from out of state and pay no tax at all. The current tax is an unfair burden upon my choice of legal activity, an effort to force me to change my behavior by a group that has decided what I do is bad for me. I’d rather buy my few monthly smokes from my local guy, but the tax is driving him out of business, and I just refuse to pay three times the right price.

“State Tobacco Tax Ignites an Unlikely Political Fire” (Dec. 28) was an effort to put the initiative supporters into a fringe political area of nonvoters, antigovernment freaks, Nixon supporters (the guy only voted for Nixon), owners of tobacco stores and overall enemies of children at risk. It’s a guilt-by-association type of hit piece.

I don’t suppose it would be too much to ask for a fair shake. This tax has put local and national Indian reservations in the forefront of tax-dodging cigarette sales (I even get solicitations from East Coast Indian tribes, complete with written legal opinions about the legality of buying from out of state). It is creating a culture of “forbidden fruit” among teens. It is not collecting the taxes claimed.

HOWARD VEIT

West Hollywood