North Carolina - may get a slight increase in cigarette tax..

July 22, 2009 - The North Carolina General Assembly did not pass a new state budget by the end of the fiscal year at midnight, June 30th. The assembly is now in its second two week extention through July 31st to come up with an agreement on the budget. Lawmakers have approved a temporary spending bill to keep government operating and Governor Beverly Perdue signed the measure. (NC gov signs new budget extension from lawmakers by GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press, 7/16/2009)

House and Senate Democrats closed in Tuesday, July 21st on a deal to generate nearly $1 billion in new taxes this year in North Carolina they said would raise both sales and income taxes but avoid subjecting a host of services to the sales tax. Finding such a deal has been the key obstacle to passage of a permanent state government budget three weeks after the new fiscal year began.

As part of this deal the cigarette tax also would go up by 15 cents a pack to 50 cents and raise taxes on beer, wine and liquor, according to Sen. Clark Jenkins, D-Edgecombe, one of the tax negotiators.

Reference: North Carolina Democrats say tax deal imminent North Carolina Democrats say agreement very close to raising sales, income taxes this year by Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press Writer, 7/21/2009.

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