Scarcnet News Summaries (Advocacy Institute)
New Jersey Passes Cigarette Tax Increase
Length: pages
Abstract
The New Jersey Legislature voted yesterday to double the state's cigarette tax from 40 cents to 80 cents per pack. Governor Christine Todd Whitman is expected to sign the bill into law, and the increase would take effect January 1, 1998. The revenue generated by the tax, approximately $205 million, will go towards helping uninsured hospital patients and school construction. New Jersey, the 10th state to raise its cigarette taxes this year, will have the third highest cigarette tax in the nation, after Alaska's $1 per-pack and Washington state's 82.5 cents per-pack tax. Gov. Whitman had tried several times to raise the tax, but with little support. "What put it over the top this time was this masterful combination of these two issues, education and health care. It's probably the most palatable tax increase that exists right now, and you have two significant lobbies crying out for it," said Curtis Fisher, director of New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Citizen Lobby.
Sources: Abby Goodnough, "New Jersey Legislators Vote To Increase Cigarette Tax," NEW YORK TIMES, December 19, 1997, p. A37; "New Jersey," USA TODAY, December 19, 1997, p. A12.