Editors' Note: Massachusetts voters will find four questions on their ballot today. These questions are binding referendums and will therefore become law if supported by a majority of voters. The following are The Crimson's endorsements of these four initiatives:

1 A chorus of complaints is sure to follow the proposal of any "sin tax," designed to increase the price of such products as cigarettes and alcohol. But when the status quo facilitates destructive and often lethal behavior, we don't think such measures are that bad at all.

Question One would raise the 26-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes to 51 cents and channel the added revenue into a newly-created Health Protection Fund. The estimated $130 million that would be collected would be used to expand current smoking prevention efforts.

More important than its assistance to public health efforts would be the proposal's effect on discouraging young people from taking up smoking. Supporters of the initiative estimate that a 25-cent hike in cigarette prices would result in 80,000 people quitting or deciding not to experiment with this deadly addiction.

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking causes more premature deaths than AIDS, fires, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, auto accidents, suicide and murder combined. In Massachusetts, over 11,000 residents die each year from smoking-related illnesses.

The key to reducing the number of deaths from smoking is preventing young people from taking up the killer habits in the first place. Studies show that 90 percent of smokers are addicted as children. In Massachusetts, 38,000 children begin to smoke every year.

Passage of this initiative promises positive results. Since 1988, when voters passed a similar referendum in California, smoking rates in that state declined 17 percent--double the national rate. And in Canada, the percentage of smokers among older teens fell from 24 to 16 percent after the national excise tax was increased from 1989 to 1991.

Opposition to Question One has been coordinated by The Committee Against Unfair Taxation. The group appeals for money to be spent not on smoking prevention programs, but on issues such as AIDS, homelessness and poverty. In fact, the committee is entirely financed by tobacco industry executives. Their sudden concern for social problems in Massachusetts is just a ploy to divert attention from the fatal dangers of smoking.

Passage of this initiative could well save many lives in Massachusetts. We strongly urge a yes vote on Question One.

2 Question Two would require banks, insurance companies and publicly traded corporations to disclose information from their state tax returns. In a state where 50,000 corporations still pay the minimum state tax of $456, it makes sense to check if everyone is playing by the rules.

The referendum would not alter the way corporations currently pay their taxes to the state. It would also not affect individual taxpayers or small businesses. Banks, insurance companies and public corporations are already required by law to disclose what they pay in federal taxes and this measure, say its supporters, only strives to inform the public how much big business is paying to the state. Opponents argue that much of the tax return information is confidential and that its disclosure could therefore harm businesses.

The two sides reached an agreement after the ballot question was submitted. Compromise legislation will therefore be submitted for adoption by the Legislature regardless of voters' preferences. However, voting yes on Question Two, say negotiators of the compromise, will still have a positive effect. A strong showing on behalf of the initiative will send a message to the Legislature to pass the compromise measure, which would require the state tax information to be published not by individual companies, but in aggregate from. The compromise proposal would also establish a task force to study all of Massachusetts' taxes on business.

In support of this compromise proposal to disclose big business tax payments, we encourage a yes vote on Question Two.

3 "Buy Naked, Vote Naked," say the slogans in favor of Question Three. And we agree. We citizens recycle and it's high time truant businesses did their share.

This binding referendum, if voted into law, would ban wasteful packaging and work to insure that the many recyclables now collected actually end up being recycled and not simply thrown in with trash in landfills and incinerators.