Ken Raymond could be any smoker in Pennsylvania, which is why he has a $6,300 state tax bill hanging over his head.

Mr. Raymond e-mailed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after we ran a story about the state going after folks who had purchased cigarettes via the Internet. The Department of Revenue started that drive with those who had bought at least 100 cartons of cigarettes, a target group chosen in part on the assumption that this would take in people reselling cigarettes for profit.

That net cast over more than 4,300 Pennsylvania smokers brought in much smaller fish than that.

"MY WIFE AND I BOTH SMOKE AND I DO NOT RESELL FOR A PROFIT AT ALL,'' Mr. Raymond wrote. ''I AM ADDICTED ENOUGH TO SMOKE THEM ALL! IT'S NOT REALLY A THRESHOLD AT ALL, IT'S A BAD ADDICTION!!''

It is indeed, and one that can be as hard to beat as alcohol, heroin and, that truly sad case, Pirates baseball.

I returned Mr. Raymond's e-mail and found he lived in Wellsboro, near the New York border in north central Pennsylvania. Even if folks in Harrisburg used this newfound cigarette money to make road improvements, I wouldn't drive all the way out to Wellsboro for smokes.

But the Raymonds can stand in for all the nicotine addicts who now have reason to feel under siege while getting little sympathy from their nicotine-free brethren.

The Department of Revenue has backed away from a spokesman's statement last month that targeting the 100-carton crowd first was a way to get those reselling cigarettes for profit. Actually, it was more about needing a starting point, department Press Secretary Stephanie Weyant said.

The department already has collected $2 million from these people, who bought cigarettes out of state since 2005, and it has secured another $4.1 million in deferred payment agreements. That's not bad for a month's work, and the state isn't done.

It expects to send another 23,000 or so letters to people who made smaller purchases but likewise deprived the state of its excise tax on cigarettes. That's now $1.35 a pack and could go to $1.45 if Gov. Ed Rendell's tax plan is approved. The state expects to gather $18.7 million in back excise taxes and $2.4 million in sales or use taxes from this campaign. It will be ongoing if more on-line cigarette purchases are made. Pennsylvania is, of course, also considering a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

That ban is OK with me, but that doesn't mean I can't sympathize with smokers who feel the big hand of government coming for them from all directions. Mr. Raymond, who says he makes around $25,000 a year, tried to make ends meet by buying cigarettes on-line and -- whammo! -- he lost any hope of an income tax refund these next several years.

"I hope I at least get a thank-you card.''

Some out there are thinking, hey, if smokers don't like it they should quit sucking cancer sticks. Until then, they should pay what they owe. Thomas W. Wolfe, state Secretary of Revenue, noted in a letter to the editor that everyone can pay within a penalty-free period and with a payment plan if needed.

"Is it fair that some people avoid paying the $1.35 per pack tax by purchasing cigarettes online, while people who purchase the same product at Pennsylvania stores pay it?'' Wolfe asked. " . . . Tax fairness is when everyone who purchases cigarettes -- from a Pennsylvania store or online -- pays the same amount of tax.''

Who could argue with that? I'm not, but I'm asking you to consider this: The federal Jenkins Act, a 58-year-old law recently dusted off for our age of cyberspace, requires only that vendors who ship cigarettes into another state release that information to state taxing authorities. If you buy books, DVDs, videos or anything else taxable from Amazon.com, to take just one example, Pennsylvania may never know.

Amazon.com doesn't have a sales tax license in Pennsylvania, Ms. Weyant confirmed, and so the purchaser is responsible for paying the proper duty to Harrisburg. In the last calendar year, more than 16,000 people paid more than $13 million (an average of $823 apiece) in use taxes for out-of-state purchases from various vendors.

I'm sure I bought at least one book from Amazon, and I don't recall filling out any tax forms. I don't think I'm alone, but they'll never take me alive.

The state isn't coming after book and video buyers, just smokers, who right now must feel like they have targets on their backs bigger than the Lucky Strike emblem.