Maine Tobacco Tax Hike - Tobacco industry mobilizes to fight proposed Maine tax hike. AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) As the Legislature prepares to debate Gov. John Baldacci's proposed $1-a-pack hike in Maine's cigarette tax, the tobacco industry is mobilizing to fight the increase that would give Maine the highest state cigarette tax in the nation. Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. are enlisting cigarette wholesalers and retailers in the campaign. Philip Morris has also provided convenience stores with pamphlets urging smokers to join the fight. Baldacci is seeking to raise the tax, currently $2 per pack, to $3. The increase, which would generate an estimated $66 million per year in additional revenue, is part of Baldacci's proposed $6.5 billion budget. (Foster's Daily Democrat 3/2/2007) To those who say the tax would be too high, the Maine Coalition on Smoking and Health said Maine would have to put a $7.00 per pack tax on cigarettes to recoup smoking's impact on state health care (Anti-Smoking Group Pushes For Steeper Cigarette Tax, Caroline Cornish, WCSH6.com, 3/5/2007).