The tax increase is expected to generate a record $94.9 million for the General Fund this fiscal year - $17 million more than last year - despite the reduced sales volume. That figure would make tobacco taxes the state's third-highest moneymaker, dropping the corporate income tax to fourth.
"We actually refer to it sometimes as 'tax profiling,' because you're taking a minority of the state's population and imposing a disproportionate tax burden on that group," said John Singleton, spokesman for tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds.
What is more, critics say, the tax increase is encouraging people to smuggle cigarettes across state borders and make purchases over the Internet. Both practices are illegal in Maine, said Elmer Pelletier, an analyst for Maine Revenue Services.
The Fund for a Healthy Maine, which will receive about $50 million a year for the next two decades, helps support the state's tobacco prevention and control program called The Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine.
Many other Maine smokers will join Gildard in cutting back or quitting, smoking opponents predict. State analysts forecast that retailers will sell 3 million to 4 million fewer packs in the 12-month period ending June 30, down from 100 million the previous year.