Barbour expected to sign cigarette tax bill
Lawmakers expect to give final approval next week to a bill increasing Mississippi’s cigarette tax to 68 cents for generating much-needed revenues and fortifying the state’s diminishing car tag reduction fund.
After being bogged down since January on the legislation, the House and Senate have a compromise to vote on and send to Gov. Haley Barbour. Legislative negotiators Tuesday reached a deal that will generate an estimated $112 million a year.
“We needed to bring this to some type of finality. It’s been going on for a long time — not only this year but in previous years,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, the House’s chief negotiator on the bill to raise the state’s 18-cent-a-pack tax and ensure car taxes don’t go up.
Commercial Dispatch
5/1/9
Magnolia Tribune
