At least one Utah legislator has gotten into the moralizing mode early this year. We can only hope his colleagues recognize that excessive concern over minor vices is counterproductive.

Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, thinks that the very sight of an alcoholic beverage will create an irresistible allure for children who go with their parents to restaurants.

Utah restaurants already have "Zion curtains," or glass walls, separating the kiddies from the forbidden beverages. But Waddoups, says children shouldn't even be able to see the bar. That's why he's pushing for physical barriers blocking the view of bartenders pouring drinks.

This seems a stretch on several levels, not the least of which is that children may see their parents drinking a margarita, wine, beer and innumerable other beverages at their own restaurant table. If you're not going to prevent parents from drinking in front of their kids, what difference can it possibly make to block the view of the bar?

Meanwhile, Gov. Jon Huntsman and various legislators are trumpeting the advantages of a huge increase in the cigarette tax. Huntsman backs a $2.30 tax increase on a pack of cigarettes, which would give Utah the highest state cigarette tax in the nation. He touts it as a way to bring in money to eliminate the remaining state sales tax on food.

"I think that's a perfectly fair tradeoff," he said of his idea, which would more than quadruple the current 70-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, to $3 a pack.

We wonder why Utah should stop there. Why not raise it by $100 a pack? That would reduce tobacco use, wouldn't it?

Perhaps. But then again, it could spawn the creation of a major black market, as happened with alcohol during Prohibition. Even $3 could have the effect of creating illegal traffic. Where there is demand, there will be supply.

Americans are quite familiar with this principle. As some critics have noted, where taxes become excessive, human beings find ways around them. It's been that way since the country's founding, when many famous American patriots were also smugglers who evaded the detested taxes that the English levied on tea and other products.

When the cost of cigarettes goes too high, unscrupulous people will truck in contraband smokes from other states. By avoiding the $3 tax, smugglers will be able to make a good profit margin on illicit cigarettes and cigars, even as they create an additional burden for law enforcement, whose ranks don't appear to be growing while there's a recession on.

Huntsman says $3 per pack would bring in $120 million to $150 million in additional revenue. But that assumes that smoking continues at the same rate as today, and that may be a faulty assumption.

When oil prices rose to record levels, and with gasoline over $4 per gallon last year, Americans reduced their consumption. According the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. consumption of all petroleum products fell by an astounding 5.8 percent or 1.2 million barrels per day. Further declines are expected in 2009. Consumption has not climbed much even as the price has declined in recent months.

From November of 2007 through October of 2008, Americans drove almost 100 billion fewer miles, the largest continuous decline in American driving in history.

The point is that people respond to economics. If tobacco use is curtailed, then estimated revenues must be adjusted downward. And at a time when everyone's pinching pennies, a sharp price increase will likely let the air out of the tobacco revenue balloon.

If that happens, then lawmakers -- who could find themselves in a bind if they've already nixed the remaining food tax -- will have to conjure up some other revenue stream.

Few oppose sensible regulation, but it's important to keep tabs on cause and effect. Sen. John Valentine, for example, wrote in opposition to changing Utah's liquor laws that the current law has many benefits. For instance, he wrote, "Utah has the lowest alcohol-related fatality rate in the nation."

Of course that's a good thing. Much of the credit, however, goes not to the law but to the culture and people of Utah. We suspect that even without a bunch of laws on the books, the majority of people in Utah are not going to light up cigarettes, get drunk and go driving.

We do agree with Valentine that "Utah is innovative" and that "we have no shortage of bright minds." He calls for "responsible solutions."

But how practical are Waddoups's liquor screening proposal and Huntsman's cigarette tax? Perhaps they might -- might -- do a little good. But they could also backfire and result in greater harm.

The Waddoups proposal appears especially shaky. In 2001 the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Utah law banning the display and advertising of alcohol. Waddoups doesn't explain how this would be overcome, and the restaurant industry vows to sue if his idea goes through.

In discussing these issues, the governor and Legislature must make sure they are not merely moralizing, but putting forward sound public policy.