Smoke if you want and Pay Taxes for it

Soon smokers from Mississippi will have to pay higher cigarette taxes. Mississippi's current cigarette tax is 18 cents a pack. This cigarette tax is the third lowest in the nation, according to the Anti-Tobacco Campaign.

The state Senate Finance Committee voted Wednesday to increase the cigarette tax from 18 cents to 49 cents a pack on March 1, matching the average tax for the surrounding states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama.

Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby R-Pearl said he is sure that there are enough votes to pass the bill in the full Senate, possibly this week. Since 2006, Mississippi legislators have been fighting over a possible cigarette tax, and the efforts have failed. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist in Washington, said that he'll support the modest tobacco tax increase in 2009.

Legislative leaders are trying to increase the tax soon in hopes of supporting the state's lagging revenues before the budget year ends July 1. The Senate proposes using new cigarette tax revenue to head off an increase in car tag prices. House leaders want to use the money for to restore millions of dollars that had been cut from elementary and secondary schools.

Sen. Deborah Dawkins, who used to work as a surgical technician, said she has seen some "gross and disgusting" physical conditions caused by smoking. Dawkins was one of several senators who argued that the cigarette tax should be increased dramatically for to prevent young people from smoking. But the cigarette stores owners said that raising cigarette tax means laying off some employees. Barbour wants to add 24 cents a pack for premium cigarettes and 43 cents a pack on cigarettes produced by companies that didn't participate in the state's 1997 settlement of a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.