WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - Philip Morris churns out Marlboros and Virginia Slims at the world’s largest cigarette factory in Richmond.

Now, Morris is raising the price of Marlboro and 17 other brands of cigarettes.

Parent company Altria said the per-pack price will hike up to 81 cents.

This increase comes almost a month before a national cigarette tax increase is set to begin in April.

“It just seems a little silly to raise the price on that,” said smoker Aaron Willings.  ”Everybody knows the tobacco companies aren’t hurting.”

Experts predict cigarette sales will decline by as much as 8% as a result of the tax increase.

Just weeks after state lawmakers agreed to boost the sales tax and vehicle license fees, two state senators proposed today that the tax on cigarettes be increased by $1.50 a pack.

Such a hike would raise $1.2 billion a year, most of it for routine state services. But 15% of the money would be spent on lung cancer research, efforts to reduce tobacco use and enforcement of tobacco laws. The proposal came from state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

The measure is part of a package that includes a proposed ban on the sale of tobacco within 1,000 feet of schools and at retailers such as video stores, doughnut shops and other settings that attract children. (more…)

RALEIGH (WTVD) — Saying that the Food and Drug Administration is “ill equipped and unsuited to regulate tobacco and tobacco products,” Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) offered what they call “a reasonable, bipartisan alternative to the proposed FDA tobacco regulation.”

What they want is an entirely new Federal Tobacco Regulatory Agency separate from the FDA.

“I am opposed to giving the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco. The FDA is overburdened already, and lacks the capacity or the expertise to take on a large, complicated new industry,” said Hagan in a news release.

The senator’s move comes after a House committee approved legislature that would put cigarettes under government FDA regulation for the first time. (more…)

The Santa Rosa County Commission voted this morning on a resolution asking local tobacco retailers to voluntarily take candy-flavored tobacco products off of their shelves.

The county Health Department has asked for the resolution, saying that cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and other products with flavors like bubblegum and chocolate promote underage tobacco use.

Under the proposal, which was passed unanimously, the Health Department would reward participating stores with free advertising that promotes the outlets’ healthy decision.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois Senate committee voted Wednesday to more than double the state’s cigarette tax, adding $1 a pack with an eye toward raising money for the state’s crushing health care costs while giving smokers one more reason to quit.

By one estimate, the proposed total state tax of $1.98 — combined with existing local taxes and a pending federal tobacco tax hike — would usher in $10-per-pack cigarettes in Chicago.

“Increasing the price of cigarettes is the single most effective way of reducing smoking,” Kathy Drea of the American Lung Association told lawmakers. That, plus the estimated $278 million in new annual state revenue from the tax hike — to be earmarked for state health care costs — is “a win, win, win for Illinois,” she argued. (more…)

 (CNN) — At first glance, it looks like the real thing. It’s white, with a brown filter. When the tip glows red, a smoke-like puff follows. But this is not a typical cigarette — it’s an “e-cig.” A what? An electronic cigarette.

When an e-cigarette user inhales, a battery inside warms liquid nicotine stored in a plastic filter.

Makers of e-cigs tout their product as the first healthy cigarette, free of harmful chemicals and tar typically found in tobacco products. The only ingredient: pure liquid nicotine. “Our product is comparable to the nicotine patch except people still get the oral fixation, which they love,” explained Elicko Taieb, CEO of Smoking Everywhere, one of the largest distributors of electronic cigarettes. (more…)

The cost of a carton of cigarettes has recently shot up an average of $7, weeks before a major federal excise tax of 61.66 cents per pack goes into effect April 1.

J.J. Waddell said he hears smoker’s woes every time he sells a pack.

“I’ve had a lot more complaints. It hasn’t slowed down or picked up but I’ve had a lot of people complaining about prices,” said the tobacco merchant.

On February 4, President Barack Obama signed a bill extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children. The cigarette excise tax will fund the program.

In just a few weeks, the federal government will levy one of the largest cigarette tax increases in history.

Congress voted to raise the tax from 61 cents to just over a dollar a pack.

The goal is to raise $65 billion over the next 10 years to provide coverage for uninsured children under the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.

Tobacco companies have already upped their prices.

The latest jump in cigarette prices could be enough to force some to go cold turkey.

STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY - The dangers of smoking did not push U.S. Congressman Glenn Thompson to vote to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program – it is the thought that without a “yes” vote, thousands of kids across the country would go without health insurance.

“I’m afraid things could get a little bit worse, before they get better in terms of job lose, there could be a lot more kids going without health care services,” Thompson, (R) 5th District, said.

To help fund that SCHIP program, smokers will pony up 60 cents more for each pack of cigarettes. SCHIP help gives health insurance to youngsters whose parents make more level allowed to receive Medicaid benefits. (more…)

Madison - Gov. Jim Doyle is signaling a willingness to raise the cigarette tax, a year after he and legislators raised the tax by $1 a pack.

The Democratic governor did not explicitly endorse raising the tax in a recent interview, but he noted he originally fought for raising the tax by $1.25.

“I would simply point out that I’ve supported going to a higher level in the past,” he said.

The cigarette tax rose to $1.77 a year ago today.

Doyle - who spent Tuesday doing one-on-one interviews with reporters at the governor’s mansion in Maple Bluff - told the Wisconsin State Journal he wants to resume having the gas tax automatically increase every year. (more…)