Smokers pinched by state tax

By Malavika Jagannathan • Gannett Wisconsin Media • July 26, 2008 GREEN BAY — Some smokers say the $1 cigarette tax increase that took effect six months ago is pinching their pockets but hasn't forced them to kick the habit. The cost has some smokers cutting back, including 21-year-old Melissa Morgan of Green Bay. "It is way too expensive," she said. "I don't buy packs anymore. I wait until I run out of them and then I'll usually stop for a couple." Morgan estimates she's saving about $40 a month and if prices climb higher, it will force her to quit. In the two-year $57.2 billion budget approved by the state Legislature last year, the state tax on a pack of cigarettes jumped to $1.77 on Jan. 1 — making Wisconsin's tobacco tax the 11th highest in the country. An average pack of cigarettes costs about $4. Meanwhile, adult... [read full story]