Mississippi: Barbour Signs Cigarette Tax

Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican and a former tobacco lobbyist long opposed to raising Mississippi’s cigarette tax, relented in the face of slumping budget revenues and signed the state’s first increase in nearly a quarter century. The state’s 18-cents-a-pack excise tax had not changed since 1985. On Friday, it rises to 68 cents a pack. Mississippi becomes the latest state to make smokers pay more to increase finances during a recession. Mr. Barbour signed the legislation as Mississippi struggles with an estimated revenue shortfall of $400 million for the year that ends June 30. The tax is estimated to generate more than $113 million for the year that begins July 1.