COLUMBIA, S.C. - On July 1, South Carolina will increase its cigarette tax by 50 cents to 57 cents per pack, the State reports. Across the state, merchants, health advocates and residents sound off about the tax hike.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that every household in the state shells out close to $600 annually to pay for tobacco-related health care expenses. "There is a huge direct and indirect tax burden to everyone in South Carolina, whether they smoke or not," said Louis Eubank, director of the S.C. Tobacco Collaborative. "So what you??re talking about is a lessening of that burden. Plus, people will be healthier."

Earlier this year, Gov. Mark Sanford and other lawmakers managed to keep a tobacco tax hike out of the budget, but last month, the legislature gathered enough votes to override the governor??s veto and raise the cigarette tax to help plug its $1 billion budget shortfall. Thus tomorrow, South Carolina ends its more than three decade reign as the state with the lowest cigarette tax. On July 1, South Carolina??s cigarette tax will place it 42nd.

With the increase, S.C. convenience stores fear their business will be negatively affected, particularly those along the Georgia and North Carolina borders, said David Jordan, marketing director of R.L. Jordan Oil Co. Cigarettes account for around a quarter of the sales at the company??s 41 Hot Spot convenience stores.

"There is no other product that generates money and jobs like cigarettes," Jordan said. "We don??t know how much business we??ll lose to North Carolina and Georgia, but we know it??s going to happen." On Thursday, Georgia and North Carolina??s cigarette taxes will be less than South Carolina??s.

Jordan expected to see a decline of 5 percent to 7 percent in cigarette sales when the federal excise tax jumped in April, but that decrease amounted to more than 10 percent instead. "Some stores right on the border will have to adjust to the way they do business. They??ll have to live on a lot less (profit) margin," he said. "Some probably will go out of business."

During the past eight years, nearly every state has hiked its cigarette taxes.