HARTFORD, CT – Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell has reached an agreement with the state’s top Democrats to raise the state’s cigarette tax by $1 a pack, the Hartford Courant reports.
An internal document from closed-door budget talks reveals that Democrats support Rell’s proposal to increase the cigarette tax by $1, which will give Connecticut the second-highest cigarette tax in the nation at $3.00 a pack (Rhode Island is first with $3.46 a pack). The proposed effective date is October 1.
The issue is scheduled today for debate when Connecticut’s legislature votes on a two-year budget plan.
"We are perfectly okay with the governor's proposal and expect to include it in our package on Thursday," said Douglas Whiting, a spokesman for House Speaker Christopher Donovan.
However, unless Democrats and Republicans can agree on additional spending cuts, insiders predict that Rell might veto the overall fiscal plan containing the proposed cigarette tax increase.
"To date, the Democrats have not made the kind of real and meaningful cuts to state spending that…the governor would like to see as the way out of this budget mess,” said Christopher cooper, Rell’s spokesman. "Her frustration has been that those cuts have not been made. If they continue to shuffle one column to another without making any kind of cuts, that's not going to be a very attractive budget proposal."