by Hobart Rowen

About the author: Hobart Rowen is a syndicated columnist whose articles often appear in Liberal Opinion Week, a newspaper of liberal political opinion.

Tobacco may have caused more than 400,000 premature American deaths in 1993, but never underrate the power of the tobacco lobby. With Dan Rostenkowski now on the sidelines, a House Ways and Means subcommittee lowered a proposed tax on cigarettes to a meaningless 60 cents per pack over six years.

Sixty cents is less than half of the Rosty-endorsed subcommittee proposal of a $1.25 tax, and below the 75 cents in the Clinton health plan—both watered way down from the $2 a pack first considered by the White House.

That would not only cut the revenue for financing health care reform, but would barely, if at all, be reflected in retail cigarette prices. Thus, it...