The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 11/23/8
The ongoing battle about whether to raise Mississippi’s 18-cent-per-pack cigarette tax may be fought out in venues other than the state Legislature.
Two Mississippians hope to gather enough signatures to place on the ballot a proposal to ensure the state’s tobacco tax always is one half of the national average.
Bill Luckett, a Clarksdale attorney, and Rory Reardon, a Jackson advertising consultant, filed the initiative to raise the cigarette tax with the Secretary of State’s office last week.
Under the initiative proposal, Mississippi’s cigarette tax would go to 50 percent of the national average as of May 30 of each year. According to a news release the pair distributed, the national average currently is $1.19 per pack, meaning Mississippi’s tax would be 59.5 cents per pack.
Magnolia Tribune
