Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement that he will pour $125 million of his own money into a global anti-smoking campaign is a sign that he means what he says when he talks about changing the world with philanthropy. While we’ve been openly skeptical that Mr. Bloomberg’s talents would be better used as a philanthropist than as a president, this latest gift is one example of an area where private giving is better than government action. But bear in mind that Mr. Bloomberg himself — or rather, the city government he heads — is up to its neck in the cigarette business, indeed is seeking to enforce its revenue stream of excise off the sale of the divine herb.

Only last week came word that the city will be pursuing up to 16,000 ordinary New Yorkers for unpaid cigarette excise. It seems the city reached a settlement with a defunct Internet retailer, DirtCheapCigs.com, under which the vendor will hand over the names of its customers, including 16,000 New Yorkers, so that the city can pursue them for a total of up to $6.95 million in unpaid excise. The city’s finance commissioner, Martha Stark, has described the effort as a way to “level the playing field” for the bricks-and-mortar retailers in the city that have no choice but to collect the excise.

In fact, it’s not a level playing field the city wants from the cigarette business — it’s the money. After all, there’s more than one way to level a playing field. The city could, say, lower the taxes smokers have to pay in the bodegas and Seven-Elevens. State and city taxes currently add about $3 to the cost of a pack, not counting state and local sales taxes and federal excise of 39 cents. All these high taxes are plain revenue generating taxes for greedy, cynical government.

They lead only to more tax evasion, including the up to 110,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes that are smuggled into the city on an average day. Policymakers like to cite the public health benefits of reduced smoking as an excuse for the high taxes, but don’t believe that for a moment. If that were the case the city could just outlaw cigarettes. It seems pretty clear that no one does because smokes are just too lucrative for the government.

At least New Yorkers will effectively be free to purchase just about any other legal product online, from books to lava lamps to air tickets to wine. State authorities have shown little appetite for enforcing the state’s use tax against average New Yorkers ever since Governor Cuomo’s failed New Jersey shopping mall stakeouts. That leaves cigarettes as the sole product on which the city seeks enforce its excise. For those with a genuine aversion to smoking, Mr. Bloomberg’s private philanthropy is a better route than sending out government tax collectors to strong-arm ordinary New Yorkers who bought a few cigarettes out of state.