When Republican state legislators decided last month that they needed to escape Sacramento and kick back in a more relaxed environment to hash out issues, they headed for a luxury beach resort in Santa Barbara. Such sojourns don’t come cheap, so oil and tobacco firms and other companies that are pressing an agenda in the Capitol funneled $120,000 to a group that picked up much of the tab. About 25 Republican senators and Assembly members a ... Jump to full article >>

The smoking ban that takes effect in Virginia restaurants today resulted from “an accidental stroke of genius” on his part, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Monday. The General Assembly approved the ban on smoking in most restaurants after several key legislators had voted against a Kaine-proposed tax on cigarettes last winter. The tax proposal itself was just a political maneuver, Kaine told The News & Advance’s editorial board Monday. He ... Jump to full article >>

Taxes by the Numbers Average cigarette tax in non-tobacco states: $1.47 Average state cigarette tax: $1.34 Average cigarette tax in major tobacco states: $0.40 FRANKFORT — When legislators return to Frankfort in January for a new legislative session, they face a daunting task: how to pay for the state’s essential services while revenue continues to decline. Although official estimates won’t be released until next month, initial pr ... Jump to full article >>

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 >>