Don’t Raise Cigarette Tax

Congress must seriously consider the drastic consequences of the proposed McCain legislation on tobacco. This bill calls for a huge tax increase on the price of cigarettes that will significantly damage not only tobacco growers and producers, but mom-and-pop retailers and srnall liquor-store owners as well.

A large part of the retail industry has been active in the effort to end the sale of tobacco to teens through education and training programs. Now, this same group will be punished with significant loss in revenue, because the government has made the legal product they sell exorbitant in cost.

It is not the job of government to teach children right from wrong. Punish the underage smokers who break the law, not the adult customers who smoke or the retailers who sell this legal product.

BRIAN Y.S. LEE

President

Korean American Grocers Association of California