Sanford has championed the idea of offsetting an increase in the free cigarettes tax with a decrease in the state income tax or an optional flat tax. A flat tax would give South Carolinians two options for paying their taxes: Paying the current 7 percent rate and using deductions; or paying a flat tax of 3.4 percent with no deductions, which would have the effect of lowering overall income tax revenues. At a time when the state is faced with the need for across-the-board budget cuts, reducing the income tax makes no sense. This also is a typical example of the piecemeal tax revision the state has engaged in for years without fully examining the overall ramifications and repercussions. If the governor requires a tit-for-tat tax cut for raising the cigarette tax cut, why not simply declare the grocery sales tax cut as the offsetting tax cut? What the state can't afford to do is pass on the opportunity to provide health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents while preventing teens from taking up a habit that eventually is likely to kill them.