Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly (2-to-1) favor upping cigarette taxes by $1.25 a pack.

April 1, 2007 - Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly (2-to-1) favor upping cigarette taxes by $1.25 a pack. Raising the price of tobacco — all by itself — will keep nearly 85,000 children alive today from ever taking up the habit, sparing 27,000 from early death. It will be the tipping point for another 40,000 adults who will quit because they can't afford it, sparing 11,000 premature deaths and 11,000 smoking-impaired births. Gov. Doyle and key Republican and Democratic lawmakers are heeding the public's demand for action. The $1.25-a-pack cigarette tax increase they're promoting will dramatically improve the health and well-being of countless Wisconsin families for decades to come. (Cigarette-tax proposal will improve health, well-being of state residents, Douglas Reding, GreenBayPressGazette.com)