Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Guv's Cigarette Tax Dead On Arrival

The Governor's proposed 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax he surpised everyone with, including members of his own party, in his State of the State address is officially dead. Daniels urged the tax increase to discourage teen-age smoking, but he offered no plan or rationale for the nearly $150 million in new revenues the tax increase would generate annually.

Rep. Tim Brown (R), the chairman of the House Public Health Committee, pushed the proposed tax increase on behalf of the Governor but could not muster enough support for it in committee to vote it out. Brown tells the Star that any last-ditch effort to revive the proposal later in the session would be a "long shot."

The Star reported that "many legislators were concerned that Daniels' didn't spell out where that additional money would be spent."

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