Georgia Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, wants to raise the state's tobacco tax by $1, and he says providing money to the cash-strapped state and discouraging children from lighting up are reason enough for the change.
The Savannah Republican's bill introduced Tuesday would make Georgia's tax, now 37 cents a pack, higher than any neighboring state's.
An identical bill last year never made it out of committee. Mr. Stephens said the projected state budget deficit of more than $2 billion and the absence of elections improve his bill's chances.
SUPPORTERS SAY: Mr. Stephens' supporters -- which include the American Cancer Society, the Medical Association of Georgia and the American Heart Association -- estimate his plan would bring in $350 million yearly for the state and reduce the $537 million Georgia spends handling smoking-related illnesses.
Mr. Stephens dismissed concerns that smokers would cross state lines to buy lower-priced cigarettes, saying surrounding states are likely to enact tobacco increases because of their own budget problems.
South Carolina, which has the nation's lowest cigarette tax at 7 cents per pack, is expected to raise its tax this year. Disagreements over how to spend the revenue led the increase's defeat last year.
GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, both Republicans, have said they oppose tax increases to make up the revenue shortfall, expected to top $2 billion for the current fiscal year. Gov. Sonny Perdue has also expressed reluctance to increase taxes to plug the budget gap.
Mr. Cagle called the proposal a "pipe dream" and said that since the tobacco tax was increased in 2003 it had not delivered as much revenue as expected.
"People adjust their buying habits away from branded to unbranded and so the tax revenue is not as great as one might think," he said.
INDUSTRY OPPOSITION: Tobacco marketers point to Delaware, which has seen cigarette sales double since New Jersey began a series of tax increases in 1990. They also note that the revenues rarely meet expectations.
A 25-cent boost in Georgia's cigarette tax in 2003 to meet that year's projected budget deficit ultimately fell 35 percent below expectations, said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA.
"It was meant to fill a budget hole then and created another to the tune of $63 million," he said.
HISTORY: Georgia last raised its cigarette tax in 2003. Facing staggering revenue shortfalls, Mr. Perdue pushed through a 25-per-pack increase, earning criticism from some conservative anti-tax groups.
NATIONALLY: Georgia lags behind the national cigarette tax average of $1.18-a-pack. The 37-cent tax ranks 43rd in the country.
WHAT WILL SMOKERS DO?
Billy Holloway said the $15 he spends each week on cigarettes is all he can spare.
The Augusta man said if the tax increase is approved he'll be forced to buy elsewhere.
"I'm going to Carolina. If I have to walk across the bridge to get them, that's what I'll do," he said Tuesday outside a BP on Broad Street. "They're already taxing everything too high."
Georgia smokers are already crossing the bridge for cigarettes, and that will only increase with a higher tax, said Ricky Jackson, a cigarette salesman for Home Folks Wholesale Co., an Augusta wholesaler that distributes to most convenience markets in North Augusta.
"More than 20 percent of the customers in South Carolina are from Georgia," Mr. Jackson said. "They're already saving $3 a carton."
Connie Clayton, of Millen, Ga., works in Augusta and often purchases her cigarettes from Cheap Cigarettes in North Augusta. She said the tax increase seems unfair.
"It seems like they should raise it on other things," she said. "It's not right to single out the smokers."
-- Stephanie Toone, Staff Writer
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