Read any recent public opinion poll of Californians and you'll find strong opposition to just about every kind of tax increase except for one: so-called "sin taxes", levies charged on either alcohol or tobacco.

Next November, voters may be asked to make that official-- through a ballot initiative that would make a pack of cigarettes sold in California the most costly in the nation.

Ending what looked to be a nasty fight between groups that wanted new-- but separate-- taxes on tobacco, a consortium of hospitals, health care workers, and anti-tobacco groups announced today what they're calling the "Tobacco Tax of 2006".

The initiative would raise the cost of a pack of cigarettes by a whopping $2.60. California's tobacco tax hasn't been increased in seven years, and is reportedly below the national average. This boost, however, would make California #1.

At a crowded morning news conference in the Senator Hotel, the new group unveiled its omnibus initiative to replace the once-competing versions; each of those would've hiked the per-pack tax by $1.50.

The new initiative, according to its backers, would result in an extra $2.27 billion every year. Slightly more than half of that would go to treatment programs-- including money for things like hospital ER services, community clinics, and prostate cancer treatment. Slightly less than half of the total tax revenues would be spent on prevention services-- including money for children's health insurance, tobacco control and education programs, and cancer/heart/asthma prevention programs.

Policy issues aside, the decision to lump all of this into one initiative may make the sales pitch to voters simpler. It also settles some of the infighting among health care-related groups that was brewing as a result of the separate activities.

At this morning's event, Duane Dauner of the California Hospital Association said their original initiative already had enough signatures to qualify for the June ballot.

And avoiding the June ballot is probably a wise strategy for proponents... considering that ballot is likely to have another tax increase for voters to consider: the initiative for universal preschool, to be paid for by hiking taxes on high-income earners.