Quit smoking now to save money!

We all know smoking is bad for your health, but smoking is now becoming increasingly bad for your wallet. On April 1^st, a federal tax increase on cigarettes of almost 62 cents was enacted. This means, that a carton of cigarettes in Denver, Colorado, that used to cost $49, now costs $58.

This article on CNN, talks about the benefits the tax increase will hold for government programs, as well as talks to some of the people who are affected by this tax increase…smokers. I am torn on the issue. I think that we should tax items like cigarettes in order to raise money for government programs, but I think we should also subsidize treatment for people who want to quit smoking as a result of the price increases. As of right now I don’t know of any government assistance to help people quit smoking. In fact, since most insurance do not cover prescription stop smoking aids like Chantix and there is no generic equivalent, the cost of paying for the medicine is more expensive than paying for the cigarettes for many smokers.

But, the fact of the matter is, if you want to save more money to pay down loans and other bills, you should quit smoking. That is a lot of money to burn!