Tobacco.org

Cigarette tax hike put on hold in House 

A House vote to raise the state's cigarette tax by $1 a pack -- to what would be the highest level in the nation -- was aborted at the last minute yesterday after Republican Governor Carcieri yanked his support from his own tax-raising proposal.

Carcieri's eleventh-hour move was announced by a visibly annoyed House Finance Committee Chairman Steven Costantino on the House floor, the unexpected development punctuated by this uncharacteristic utterance by House Speaker William J. Murphy: "Get it out of here!"

Earlier in the day, Murphy had said raising the cigarette tax "doesn't bother me" because people choose to smoke.

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