State lawmakers' fund-raiding routine is wearing thin.
The latest immediate victim of a legislative raid is a program that helps people quit smoking. But even more significant is the long-term victim -- public trust.
Lawmakers last week in state budget deliberations decided to raise the cigarette tax by $300 million a year, but slash by 50 percent the quit-smoking program the tax funds.
The maneuver amounts to a raid on quit-smoking funds to help fix other budget shortfalls.
As a result, lawmakers turned the cigarette tax into a cash machine for government when it was supposed to cover health-care costs associated with smoking, to prevent smoking and to help smokers quit.
The practice of raiding funds that are supposed to have a specific purpose has run amok in both political parties. It's become a regular occurrence for several revenue streams, most notably the transportation fund, financed by the gasoline tax.
In the case of the quit-smoking funds, raising the cigarette tax can help discourage smoking by raising the cost. But after the last tax increase in 2008, adult smoking actually increased slightly, according to a survey from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
More than a tax increase is required to further reduce adult smoking. That's why part of the cigarette tax was originally intended to pay for counseling, advertising and other programs to help prevent smoking and help smokers stop.
Last week's budget deal breaks that understanding.
That's bad for public health because it leaves the quit-smoking program at only 10 percent of the funding level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
The program's effectiveness cannot help but suffer, at the expense of smokers who want to stop.
The decision is also bad for public trust. How can taxpayers have faith that their money will be used for intended purposes when lawmakers so easily decide to divert the revenue?
For public health, the best result that can be hoped for now is that lawmakers will restore money to the quit-smoking program through further legislation later this year.
Public trust will be more difficult to restore. Lawmakers should start by ending their fund-raiding schemes.