Tobacco.org

• Less smoke, less money? 

The state government hopes to get $626 million this fiscal year from its cigarette tax, an amount that makes it the third most important tax revenue source for the state budget, behind only sales and corporate business taxes.

But during a recent meeting of a state budgeting panel, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, worried the smoking ban might affect how much money the state earns from that cigarette tax.

He said the ban, if approved, could cut into cigarette sales, especially in indoor public places such as hotels, bars and restaurants.

"Anybody who owns a bar and a restaurant is not going to have the product on premises," Cryan said.

David Rousseau, a deputy state treasurer who sits on the panel, said Cryan's concern was worth analyzing.

Rousseau said a ban that cuts consumption might force the state to provide updates to bondholders who receive debt payments from the state that are funded by the cigarette tax.

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