Categories
· Business (Tobacco)
· Settlements
· Tax
· Smokeless
· Lobbying
USA, by State
· Mississippi
|
State losing out on $28M in annual revenue, official says
Jump to full article: Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, 2009-05-21
Author: Jerry Mitchell
Intro: Big Tobacco wants Little Tobacco taxed more, saying it could mean $28 million more a year for a state budget already in danger of going up in smoke.
"Mississippi's leaving money on the table," said David Sutton, manager for media affairs for Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris. "We're hoping the Legislature will turn its attention to this."
Sutton said these manufacturers enjoy a price advantage because of their nonparticipation in the state's 1997 tobacco settlement. Mississippi gets no health-care reimbursement for those cigarettes even though they are just as unhealthy, he said.
It costs those who did take part in the settlement about 50 cents per pack, he said. "We need to level the playing field."
Gov. Haley Barbour, a former lobbyist for Big Tobacco, agrees. In his budget proposal, he's included proposed tax increases on both smokeless tobacco and cigarette manufacturers who didn't participate in Mississippi's tobacco settlement.
Jump to full article » |