Table 1

Tobacco control theme categories and arguments

Dominant theme	Argument	Number of arguments	% arguments by theme	Brennan and Prediger's κ
Economic	Tax will pay for other health-related programmes	501	29%	0.83
	The tax will pay for tobacco prevention and cessation programmes	478	28%	0.84
	The tax will raise general revenue for the state	357	21%	0.82
	States don't spend enough money on tobacco control and prevention; there needs to be an increase in dollars for tobacco control and prevention	79	5%	0.86
	The tax will recover medical expenses associated with tobacco-related disease	76	4%	0.88
	The tax money may not go where its intended (eg, MSA funding misappropriation)	74	4%	0.90
	The revenue from the tax will not be enough to cover the promised services (unfunded mandate)	67	4%	0.92
	A smoking ban hurts/will hurt businesses	52	3%	0.93
	The tax will hurt businesses	48	3%	0.97
	Should tax those who smoke	44	3%	0.91
Health	Tobacco use leads to negative health consequences	383	33%	0.57
	Concerned about secondhand smoke	235	20%	0.69
	Increasing the cigarette tax is a way to decrease tobacco use	173	15%	0.82
	The tax will increase prevention/cessation among youth	138	12%	0.86
	Tobacco use by individual or family member/friend	118	10%	0.82
	Tobacco use is addictive; people cannot help it	96	8%	0.85
	Raising taxes will have no effect on tobacco use	24	2%	0.95
Political	Tobacco use is a personal choice/freedom	103	27%	0.89
	The tobacco industry deceived us	66	18%	0.91
	It's not fair to tax a certain group of people	65	17%	0.91
	Taxes are high enough; taxes in general should not be increased	57	15%	0.90
	It's a regressive tax	45	12%	0.97
	There are problems that need to be addressed other than tobacco use	20	5%	0.96
	Tobacco use is legal	16	4%	0.97
	Should not punish people who are addicted to tobacco	4	1%	0.99