Jump to full article: WTNH-DT Channel 8 (New Haven, CT), 2009-09-08
Intro: Governor Jodi Rell didn't sign the budget that passed in the General Assembly last week. But, it still became law today. And part of that budget increased taxes on cigarettes.
Democrats and Republicans alike jumped on the cigarette tax as a way to balance the budget in a cash-strapped year. The habit will bring in $500,000 to our state coffers.
But it will cost one-billion dollars in health-related costs. So some say we're being penny-wise and pound-foolish. And smokers, well, they're just fed-up with being a target.
"It's gonna cost me a lot of money, I won't pay it," said Leah Charney of Milford.
Charney is a woman on a mission.
She's buying tobacco, rolling papers and a machine. She plans to roll her own from here on out; an act of defiance against yet another tax increase on cigarettes.
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