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Walker Board of Health endorses one-dollar-a-pack Georgia cigarette tax increase 

The Walker Board of Health has passed a resolution supporting a one-dollar-a-pack increase in Georgia's cigarette tax, and is urging the General Assembly to enact enabling legislation during its current session.

The average state cigarette tax nationally is $1.19 per pack. At 37 cents per pack, Georgia's tax ranks 43rd in the country, according to the Georgia Alliance for Tobacco Prevention.

According to Northwest Georgia Public Health's Dr. Wade Sellers, "A one-dollar-a-pack increase in the state cigarette tax would reduce teen smoking, help fund the state's tobacco-prevention-and-cessation program to the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, protect children on PeachCare and Georgians who rely on Medicaid from being cut off from health care they need, and aid working families seeking health coverage."

Boards of health in Bartow, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Paulding and Polk counties have passed similar resolutions to Walker's, according to Sellers.

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