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Richmond Council Presses Pause on a Cigarette Tax Proposal

  Members of a Richmond City Council work group did not give their stamp of approval to a cigarette tax Thursday - pushing off the decision to a later date. The conversation comes after the city recently passed an increase to the meals tax.

 

When Richmond City Council voted to increase the meals tax to help pay for new schools, it was controversial. Many asked: Why don’t we tax cigarettes? So Councilman Parker Agelasto submitted an additional proposal to do just that.

 

Additional Content: Richmond Raises Meals Tax to Pay for New Schools

“The proposal here for 80-cents a pack would put Richmond in line with most of the cities of comparable size in Virginia,” Agelasto said during a meeting of the city council workgroup.

Alexandria, Newport News and Hampton all have cigarette taxes, but Richmond has declined to raise one of their own for years. Altria, which owns Philip Morris, is headquartered in the city.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Mallory Noe-Payne is a Radio IQ reporter based in Richmond.