If cigarettes are bad, ban them, don't tax them

To the editor:

If the government is serious about stopping smoking, it should ban it.

To put a tax on a legal product to keep people from buying it is ridiculous and hypocritical.

I don't believe for a second that any tax is put on cigarettes for the benefit of the people. It's put there to fill the politicians' bank accounts.

I trust CEOs of big corporations much more than I trust politicians.

(I'm a nonsmoker who lived in Cape Girardeau for many years.)

DON WALLACE

Avondale, Ariz.