January 20, 2012   Over the past decade, Maryland has gradually raised its tax on cigarettes to the current $2 per pack, and the results have been striking. Fewer people smoke cigarettes today than before the tax was implemented, and that’s particularly true among high school students. Yet even as lawmakers acted boldly to reduce cigarette use, they foolishly left alone other forms of tobacco, chiefly snuff, chewing tobacco and cigars. Fortunately, it appears some in Annapolis have finally taken note of this outrageous disparity. This week, Gov.Martin O’Malley released a budget proposal that would have the General Assembly raise the tax on OTP to what health advocates have been seeking for years — a 70 percent tax applied at the wholesale level.

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