california cigarette tax increase, one month later

Irked by the seemingly uber partisan stance?
Great! Gotcha! It was an attention grab, at best. Unsubstantiated.
And for the smokers? We hope you didn't notice that enormous price hike.

Oh, but you did. And then you didn't (keep on reading).

After all, of the Californians that headed out on election day to vote, only 35.57% opposed it. That being Proposition 56. So 1 in 3 (voting) Californians smoke, envision that the money ends up where it isn't supposed to, and/or are just vehemently against any tax hike. And that to the tune of potentially raising $1.4 billion over a 21 month period.

Side note: its administration costs can be likened to the well known two and twenty hedge fund fee scheme. But this time it's something like 5 and 'gravy train' -- a hefty 5% "of revenue to pay the costs of administering the tax."

According to Ballotpedia:
Proposition 56 increased the tobacco tax by $2.00, bringing the total tobacco tax up to $2.87 per pack of cigarettes. The tobacco tax was levied on other tobacco products and e-cigarettes as well. Revenue from the additional $2.00 tax was allocated to physician training, prevention and treatment of dental diseases, Medi-Cal, tobacco-use prevention, research into cancer, heart and lung diseases, and other tobacco-related diseases, and school programs focusing on tobacco-use prevention and reduction.

California ranks the 9th highest in the country.

verdict?
​the damage was only temporary.