One man wrote a letter to the editor claiming that Huntsman's tax proposal was prejudiced and discriminatory.

Good luck winning sympathy on that charge. It's not the kind of tax that's going to cause people to revolt and dump tea in the harbor. It's not the same thing as standing up for a race or a religion. Nobody's race threatened someone's health.

It's a little difficult to work up much sympathy and support for something that causes cancer, heart disease, etc., etc., and death. It's difficult to get behind something like second-hand smoke, which contains some 4,000 chemicals, including some of the same cancer-causing stuff that's found in battery acid, rat poison, lighter fluid, ant killer, weed killer and nail polish.

Even smokers know that cigarette smoking causes a litany of health problems, not only for the smoker but also those around him, all of which is a drain on the health care system and public money.

Smokers don't help their cause by tossing cigarette butts out the car window. Besides annoying others, the butts are toxic and nonbiodegradable. The Texas Department of Transportation reported that "more than 1 billion pieces of litter will accumulate on Texas highways each year. Of those, 13 percent are cigarette butts. That means 130 million butts will be tossed out in Texas alone this year."

Cigarette smoking is so unpopular that cigarette taxes are one of the few taxes that are actually popular. Surveys show that increasing sales tax on cigarettes has overwhelming support. It discourages people from buying cigarettes or taking up the habit as teens, which improves their health and ours. It means that the people who create litter and health problems have to pay more of the costs for those problems.

There's nothing unfair about that.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesday. Please send e-mail to drob@desnews.com