Kinda self-defeating, don't ya think?

Governor Blanco wants to raise the tax on cigarettes to pay for teacher pay raises, see here and here. Her reasoning behind it, though, is faulty, at best.

"We are looking at cigarettes first because it generates more money and it will stop people from smoking," said Blanco.

Where to begin, where to begin? For one, there might not even be a need to raise any taxes. Second, why would you raise taxes on an item that you hope to one day not receive income from? Are the teachers going to take a pay cut when people quit smoking? Of course, we all know what would happen if the number of smokers declined. The governor would look to raise taxes somewhere else.