Story on smoking and poor people is incomplete.

Thirdly, as with any other consumer tax, increases in cigarette taxes are regressive among those who continue to consume (smoke). But people on lower incomes may well respond more to price changes than those on high incomes.4 Higher tobacco taxes would thus narrow differences in consumption between rich and poor. If more of the poor smokers quit, then the recent tobacco tax increases in the United Kingdom may well be progressive, even though overall tobacco tax itself is regressive.