OBACCO TAX: JUST ANOTHER TAX INCREASE

President Clinton says he has a sure-fire way to cut teen-age smoking: Raise the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes by more than a dollar.

That is part of the proposed federal settlement with tobacco companies. This is the same settlement that, for a few billion dollars, would protect those companies from a good deal of future legal liability. This is the same settlement that generates a good chunk of revenue Clinton is counting on to balance the federal budget.

But there are a few essential points that are overlooked every time the president talks about a big increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. For example, there is the notion that a higher price will keep teens from smoking. Says who? Young people, including many who are still in school and don't have jobs, already find a way to obtain cigarettes. Teens are young, but they aren't bereft of ingenuity when it comes to getting things they want.

And then there is the matter of who will pay the big new federal tax on cigarettes. President Clinton makes it sound like teen-agers are the only ones affected. But most cigarettes aren't purchased by teens. They are purchased by adults who have the right to choose whether or not they smoke.

In the end, Clinton's proposal amounts to little more than a misguided attempt to impose a huge tax increase on one special group: smokers. And he is trying to gain public support by telling Americans the result would be fewer teen-age smokers. The real result, of course, would simply be another big tax increase.