The state cigarette tax has gone up only three times in the past 17 years.
According to research by the N.C. Department of Revenue, the state's cigarette excise tax increased from 2 cents a pack to 5 cents a pack on Aug. 1, 1991.
It increased to 30 cents a pack effective Sept. 1, 2005.
And it increased again to 35 cents a pack effective July 1, 2006.
Those last two increases occurred during Gov. Mike Easley's watch. Easley has proposed raising the cigarette tax another time to 55 cents a pack in his 2008-09 budget in order to pay for raises for public school teachers.
The state currently has the seventh-lowest cigarette tax in the country.
Blog RSS feed
