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Jump to full article: WSPA News Channel Seven (Spartanburg, SC), 2010-03-19
Author: Robert Kittle
Intro: The South Carolina House pulled an all-nighter to finish its version of the state budget, meeting from 9:30 Wednesday morning until 7:30 Thursday morning. The House plan includes a 30-cents-per-pack cigarette tax increase, with the money being put aside in a special fund for health care needs starting July 1, 2011.
The increase would bring in an estimated $88 million. South Carolina has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation at 7 cents.
The move angered smoker Teresa Laverne of Columbia. "I don't think it's fair that smokers should be singled out as a class. It's not fair. Tax everybody if you're going to tax us," she said.
But fellow smoker Allison Walker of Columbia said of the increase, "I don't think it'll stop people from smoking that really do smoke, but it's a wonderful thing that it'll be used for health care."
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