Efforts to raise S.C. cigarette tax continue despite setbacks

COLUMBIA — Advocates who want to see the state's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax increased won't be giving up the fight anytime soon.

Kelly J. Davis, campaign coordinator for the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative, said the group will continue its push in the upcoming months to see the state's cigarette tax brought closer to the national average.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released information that shows the national average will rise to $1.18 per pack by the end of this year. South Carolina's rate is 7 cents.

Davis helped steer efforts this year to raise the tax. The Legislature came close to passing a 50-cent increase and spending the money on health-care coverage, but the governor's veto derailed that effort.

A rate of 57 cents per pack would have generated an estimated $159 million, and the plan was to split most of the money between Medicaid expansions and helping lower-income workers buy health insurance.

Supporters said it could have provided as many as 200,000 more South Carolinians with health care coverage, but opponents said it would have committed the state to funding programs with a declining revenue source, because the money generated was expected to decrease as more people quit smoking.

For more on the story, read tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.