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• Pataki Is Said to Weigh Increase in Cigarette Tax to $1.50 a Pack 

Facing an enormous revenue shortfall in next year's budget, Gov. George E. Pataki is considering raising the state's tax on cigarettes to $1.50 a pack, which would be the highest tobacco tax in the nation, several lobbyists speaking on the condition of anonymity say.

Asked about the proposal during a walking tour of downtown Troy today, the governor neither denied that the tax increase was an idea being batted about in his budget office nor directly acknowledged that he was considering it.

"No decision has been made at this point," the governor said of the tobacco tax.

No one knows precisely how much tax revenue the state government will lose as a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Mr. Pataki has estimated the drop-off could be $1.6 billion to $3 billion in this fiscal year, which ends on April 1, and $6 billion in the next.

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