We mentioned in a Hotline item last week that tobacco farmers in North Carolina are trying to block a provision in the House-passed Big Beautiful tax bill, that would close a loophole allowing farmers to avoid paying the $1.01 per pack cigarette tax on exported tobacco. The industry has recruited NC Senator Thom Tillis to champion the cause.

Now, nearly the entire North Carolina farm lobby (and some Virginia farm groups too) is pushing the tax break that reduces tax collections by $12 to $20 billion and encourages smoking.

In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, the farm lobby pleads that “the duty drawback is vital for American tobacco farmers” and that this end run around the excise tax “plays a quiet but essential role in keeping U.S. leaf attractive on the international stage.”

By that logic, taxpayers should shower subsidies on  EVERY American product.

And for what and whom? The letter describes tobacco as “a key driver of the North Carolina economy.” Sure. Back when Richard Nixon was president.

The USDA reports that the number of tobacco farmers in America has fallen from 90,000 in 1997 to about 3,000 today.

We are libertarians on this issue. Tobacco use should not be banned. But discouraging smoking is universally recognized as the easiest and cheapest way to reduce early death, cut health care costs, and avert the misery of cancer.

Even their letter admits this. Getting rid of the subsidy “will reduce demand” for tobacco. So true. If you tax something less, you get more of it.

This tax break subsidizes bad health, and should be immediately repealed.