Officials from R.J. Reynolds — one of the nation’s tobacco giants — are speaking out against the cigarette tax increase Iowa lawmakers will consider in tomorrow’s special legislative session. Senate Republicans propose the tobacco tax boost as the means for financing a new state economic development fund. Maura Payne, R.J. Reynolds V.P. of communications, calls the increase “tax profiling” of the state’s smokers. Payne says doubling the cigarette tax is “Robin Hood in reverse” because 22 percent of Iowa’s population will be asked to pay for an economic development program that benefits all the state’s residents. Payne says Iowa smokers paid 192-million dollars in tobacco taxes to Iowa last year, and she says that’s more than smokers’ fair share since the average smoker has an income of less than 36-thousand dollars a year. Payne says a small minority of the population that’s mostly middle to lower income is already paying 192-million into the state, and they shouldn’t be asked to pay more. She rejects the argument that the cigarette tax is a “user fee” which helps government cover the costs of providing health care to the poor who get lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses. Payne says folks can call it any “pretty name” they want, but a tax is a tax, and she predicts state tobacco tax revenues will decline if the tax is doubled.Payne says some people will stop smoking because the price of a pack will go so high, while others will go to other states, Indian reservations or the Internet to buy their smokes more cheaply. Iowa smokers haven’t launched a massive campaign to contact their legislators to complain about the proposal, and Payne says it’s because there’s a certain weariness among smokers. Payne says smokers have been made to believe they’re second class citizens. She says people tend to discount statements from her company and other cigarette makers, but Payne says “somebody has to stand up for the fact that enough is enough.”