Illinois Lawmakers Try Again With Cigarette Tax
By: Web Producer
Updated: August 9, 2007
Cigarette Tax
Illinois Lawmakers Try Again With Cigarette Tax
(Springfield) -- The plan to add another 90-cents to the price of a pack of cigarettes in Illinois is back for another round at the statehouse.
Lawmakers are trying to squeeze the plan in before lawmakers hope to go home after a budget deal.
The latest version of the tax would add 90-cents across the state, and allow Chicagos collar counties to add a dollar of their own.
Thatd push the state tax to a dollar-88 per pack, higher in Chicago and any county with its own tax.
Opponents say under the tax a carton of cigarettes would cost just under 100-dollars in Chicago.
Convenience stores fear the tax would start an exodus of smokers to neighboring states.
But Waukegan Democrat Terry Link says those people are already driving out of state for smokes.
He wonders if the new tax will make them "drive faster." Most of the taxs 350-million-dollars would go to Medicaid bills.
But the biggest hurdle for the tax plan may be the calendar.
Lawmakers arent sure how much longer this summers overtime will last.
(Copyright 2007 by Newsroom Solutions/Regional News Service)
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