Proposition 29 -- Forget Ballot Box Budgeting

Proposition 29 -- Forget Ballot Box Budgeting

The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association wrote Proposition 29, the measure on the June 5 ballot in California to increase the state's cigarette tax by $1, to $1.87 per pack. Lung Association President Jane Warner likes to emphasize the demarcation at play: She's with the good guys, while the bad guys, big tobacco, will spend buckets more money trying to fight the measure than her groups will spend trying to pass it.

It's the virtuous underdogs vs. the nefarious moneybags. Good vs. evil.

There's one unmistakable plus that comes with raising the tobacco tax: As Warner explained, "if...