ORANGE MESA, Colo. – This month Congress will finish legislation that would increase the federal tax on cigarettes, and while the amount is uncertain, many are certain that it will hurt retailers and consumers alike.

"Customers can't afford a tax increase. We are already paying so much on cigarettes and tobacco products already to where it is an insane amount," James Ward, manager of the Smoker Friendly store in Orchard Mesa in Colorado, told The Daily Sentinel reports. "I just think it is unfair."

A tax proposal sponsored by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) could raise the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by 61 cents. The proposal's intent is to raise $35 billion in five years to fund and to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a state and federal program to provide health care coverage for low-income children and pregnant women.

Colorado implemented a law banning smoking indoors in public places in July 2006, and Cathie Nicholson, tobacco program coordinator for Mesa County, acknowledged the state is likely to follow an established trend.

"We do know from other states that have enacted clean-indoor-air laws you also see a reduction in the use of tobacco," Nicholson told the newspaper.

That means a downturn in tobacco sales. A tax increase could further reduce sales and nix revenue windfalls lawmakers were depending on to support government programs, such as the one intended to be bolstered by Sen. Smith's proposed legislation.

"If you want to raise taxes on smokers so you can fund yet another government program, I think it is a little bit dangerous," said former state Sen. Ron Teck of Grand Junction. "Smokers right now are the pariah of the earth, and they are a very popular target right now."

The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 68 to 31 on August 3. A month earlier, a different version passed the House. The two bills are now headed for a joint Senate and House committee in an effort to pass one bill before the children's health insurance program's funding expires September 30.