Pushback over proposed Delaware cigarette tax hike

A few times a month, Renee Taylor and her husband make a two-hour trip from southern New Jersey over the Delaware Memorial Bridge to U.S. 13 where they load up on cartons of cheap Delaware smokes.

The Taylors are part of the competitive advantage local cigarette dealers enjoy over neighboring states, a position they fear will vanish if a proposal to raise the state's cigarette tax goes through. Delaware officials are considering raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 to help solve the state's $350 million budget deficit. Officials estimate it will bring in an extra $18.6 million.

It is a move health advocates say will lead to fewer smokers and save on health care costs.

Taylor thinks it stinks.

"It pisses me off," Taylor said as she and her husband snagged cartons of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes this week. "They are just so quick to jump to cigarettes. Why don't they try to cut back government?"

Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2017/01/19/delaware-cigarettes-tobaccotax-newjersey-pennsylvania-cancer/96766256/