State Sen. Rodney Tom is aiming for No. 1. The Medina Democrat proposes to raise the state tax by $1, to $3.02 a pack. That would push the state tax 27 cents above New York’s current highest-in-the-nation cigarette tax of $2.75 a pack. Tom has said his legislation is “not about revenue; it’s about health care savings.” That may be the case for Tom, a longtime anti-smoking advocate. But we suspect money will be the principal motivator for most of Tom’s colleagues who sign onto this bill. In 2006, taxes on Cigarettes and other tobacco products generated $436 million for the state treasury, according to Tacoma News Tribune reporter Joe Turner. Increasing the state cigarette tax by $1 would bring in an estimated $99 million More per year. Tom’s bill would direct most of that new revenue to anti-smoking programs and state-subsidized health care. Even so, the extra money could help lawmakers in their efforts to deal with the state’s $6 billion budget shortfall. As Tom noted in his interview with Turner, the state is spending about $1.5 billion a year on health care for smoking-related illnesses, leaving less money for education and other needs. But Tom is right. His proposed tax hike, at bottom, is about a healthier Washington. This and other so-called sin taxes are unreliable sources of revenue. As these taxes rise, they tend to cause More consumers to cut back on the targeted sin. That is exactly what Tom and the anti-smoking groups supporting his proposal expect to happen with the higher cigarette tax. Experience and a number of studies say they won’t be disappointed. New York’s $2.75-cent a pack tax kicked in last June. New York health officials reported that, within the first week, calls to the state’s Smoker’s Quitline quadrupled to nearly 10,000. While not all who want to quit smoking are successful, several national studies show that cost is a powerful deterrent to smoking. A 2001 study by the federal Institute of Medicine found that a 10 percent increase in the price of Cigarettes can be expected to reduce smoking among adults by about 4 percent. Among children and adolescents, it’s 8 percent. The Puget Sound Business Journal reported Tuesday that groups supporting Tom’s bill — the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids — contend that the higher tax would result in 41 million fewer packs of Cigarettes sold in the state each year and nearly 13 percent fewer young people would smoke. Aaron Doeppers, regional director for Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, says Tom’s proposal would amount to “a great step forward toward reducing the number of new smokers in Washington state.” Doeppers is right. And taking that step would reduce Washington’s health-care bill, saving the state a considerable amount of money over the long run.