I will gladly help you after you send me a box packed with the finest cigars from Cuba, to better motivate my effort. :) p.s.: I totally agree with your point, in a very small measure, and in some countries, like Italy this already happens, as the taxes on tobacco are quite high, and surely a percentage goes to the health system. Stating it clearly will enforce the (true) sensation that illness and the habit of smoking are correlated.

Well first decide on your thesis. That means a statement giving your viewpoint. Then let the main body of your essay prove the dangers of smoking to the person smoking, and then the dangers to the family, and then how it affects everyone around you. You can list some statistics of lung cancer, tongue cancer, mouth cancer, black lung disease and all the illnesses that cigarettes and nicotine cause; the poor children who live with second-hand smoke, etc. To end up, summarize your opinion and end like you started. A health tax could be charged to the cigarette companies. The people would pay more for cigarettes, and the government would take the tax from the industry.

It's often good to start with a quote to show that you've read around the subject; if I were arguing against a smoking tax I would start with 'I despise what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' (Voltaire) and apply it to smoking. If I was arguing the other way, I would use a hard-hitting statistic about passive smoking or something similar. The idea of an introduction is to grab your reader's attention!

I think the best way to start a persuasive essay is to begin with the idea that at a point in the past, you felt one way about things: "Not long ago, I believed that ________ (smokers should not pay a tax because... or Smokers really should be paying a tax because...)" This gets people on board with you who would have disagreed with you if you had started out with the truth of your final message. Basically you are pandering to the people who would have disagreed with you in the next paragraphs. Some of them still will, but maybe you will keep a few on board that would have not been if you had not taken the time to side with them at first. Then you say what made you change your mind: "That was how I felt until something happened that made me see things differently. I can remember it like it was yesterday. A close fiend of mine told me.... (or) A close relative had been keeping a secret. They would have probably never told anyone, but one day it just became clear while we were talking, that.... (or) I heard this simple fact on the news..." You must tell a short story that will change the views on the topic as they were changed for you. This is your chance to show the importance of seeing it the way you do. Not everyone will agree, but the more riveting your story, the more undeniable your opinion will be. Then make a logical conclusion without being overly demanding. Work with emotions and logic, not emotions and demands. If you end with, "This is why smokers MUST pay taxes" or "This is why NO smoker should be forced to pay a tax for smoking" You will have changed nobodies mind. You must let the story speak for you. End with something more like- It was because of the experiences that I lived through, watching _____ (my friend, relative_ people like those I saw on the news that day- or whatever...) that I come to the conclusion that _____________ (say something percussive and logical without making demands.) Good luck.