I loved the recent article about Maine not getting its share of revenue from the cigarette makers. The state shouldn’t spend what it doesn’t have.

Poor, poor Maine. Will the cigarette tax jump some more? It it does, and more people quit and stop buying, then the manufacturers won’t have any money to send to Maine and the state will also lose more taxes. Then where will state officials get their tax money? I love it; one of Maine’s brighter moves.

By the way, when are we going to see a breakdown on what has been spent so far and on what? That tobacco settlement money shouldn’t be spent on anything but medical purposes, not TV advertising. All that does is help the TV stations.

I believe the money has been misused, and when the state put on a $1-per-pack tax increase it made cigarette sales go down.

The state has lost a lot of tax revenue because of bad decisions about cigarette taxes, liquor taxes and barring smoking in bars and clubs. Why can’t state officials keep state costs down instead of always increasing taxes?

Freeman Lewis, Lewiston