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Backing For Cigarette Tax Hike Gets Boost in Maryland

Don Rush

BALTIMORE (AP) - A Maryland health group says it has support from 200 candidates for the Maryland General Assembly to increase the state's tobacco tax by $1 a pack.

The Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative released a list of candidates in support of the increase on Wednesday.

The group wants to direct the additional revenue to reduce teen smoking and fund health care programs.

The list includes support from 20 incumbent state senators, and 52 incumbent House members.

Maryland lawmakers last voted for a tobacco tax hike on a pack of cigarettes in a 2007 special session, when the tax went from $1 to $2 a pack.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.