Tobacco companies and growers bought full page ads in several newspapers across the state today to help boost opposition to a possible increase in the state cigarette tax.

The newly formed N.C. Taxpayers Alliance emphasizes the estimated 50,000 jobs in the state linked to tobacco production and warns that higher taxes will harm the industry. Gov. Beverly Perdue has proposed a $1-per-pack increase, though the Senate is expected to reduce that number.

"It will hurt farm workers and tobacco factory workers," the ad says, "It will hurt convenience stores and their workers."

The ads encourage readers to call their local legislators and encourage them to oppose a tax increase. The advertisements appeared in newspapers in Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro, Wilson, Greenville, Burlington, Gastonia and Boone.

The members of the alliance are tobacco companies: Reynolds American, Lorillard, Universal Leaf and Swedish Match, along with the N.C. Tobacco Growers Association and the Cigar Association of America.

See a copy of the ad in the Wilmington Star-News by clicking the attachment.

The Senate plans to present their version of the state budget Monday, complete with significant changes from what Gov. Beverly Perdue rolled out last month.

Top of the list: the Senate's proposed cigarette and alcohol tax increases will be smaller than Perdue's, which were $1-a-pack on smokes and a 5 percent charge on alcoholic beverages. Senate leaders did not provide figures for their increases.

The Senate budget also will give agencies more flexibility to find their own budget cuts. Perdue's budget proposed seizing extra salary money from vacant positions, but Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight said the Senate version will allow agency heads the option of furloughs, cancelling equipment purchases, using the leftover salaries or other steps.

Democratic Senate leaders plan to parcel out the budget in subcommittees Monday, then the full appropriations committee Tuesday, followed by floor votes on Wednesday and Thursday.

At least 61 groups, including organizations representing teachers, state employees, organized labor, African-Americans, retirees and children's advocates, have joined forces to lobby for a "balanced approach" to the budget crisis that includes spending cuts and tax increases.

"It is simply impossible to cut our way out of the budget crisis," Bob Jackson, executive director of the state branch of the AARP, a seniors organization, said Tuesday at a news conference in downtown Raleigh. "We can't cut our way out of this mess, and if we try, it will actually make our long-term problems worse."

Other speakers called for a modernization of North Carolina's tax system or for a major rethinking of state government, much like what occurred during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The coalition, called Together North Carolina, delivered letters to legislators, Gov. Beverly Perdue and other state officials. The group plans to lobby throughout the legislative session.