Smoking Up 8% (More Bad News in List Form)

You’ve got to be able to count to four to reach Tennessee on this year’s list of the least healthy states, according to the United Health Foundation.

1. South Carolina
2. Mississippi
3. Louisiana
4. Tennessee

We were number five last year. Quoth the Tennessean:

Research shows Tennessee's consistent spot in the bottom is directly related to the state's high rate of obesity, violent crime and what researchers say is the single-most important factor: prevalence of smoking, which increased by 8 percent over last year.

Seriously? We triple our cigarette taxes and smoking shoots up 8% in the same year?

Blame Bush

It now looks like the State’s tax revenue is going to fall $800 million below projections. Raising the state sales tax should not be an option. We just tripled cigarette taxes last year. Assuming we drain half the State’s rainy day fund, that’s still $425 million we have to cut. Ouch.