When it came to raising new sources of desperately needed revenue, stogies and chaw appeared to be the lowest-hanging fruit. Every other state imposes excise taxes on smokeless tobacco, and all but one other – Florida – do so on cigars. And the idea was widely popular in the Keystone State, public-opinion polls showed. So how did the ripe-for-the-picking products avoid being affected by the cornucopia of taxes that top lawmakers anno ... Jump to full article >>