The "goal" of the rise in cigarette prices, mostly from taxes, was to fund a larger government in America, pay for health care, and try to get people to smoke less. It hasn't done much, considering the following story:
"On Thursday, however, the Centers reported that after 15 years of dropping, the national rate of smoking had gone up slightly to just under 21 percent."
"European Union states agreed to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by nearly 30% to try to reduce smoking and improve public health"
America going the way of the EU? They want to turn America into a European-style state, which means very high taxes. We'll see what happens in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
