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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal earlier declared that he would impose veto on the tax increase proposal in case it is approved by the Ways and Means Committee. Thus, sooner or later the proposal would have been died inevitably.

The proposal to increase the state cigarette tax was introduced by Rep. Sharon Weston-Broome and Rep. Karen Peterson. According to the proposal, the state tax on every pack of cigarettes was to be increased by a dollar. The revenues collected from the tax increase were supposed to be passed to fund several healthcare programs.

Peterson declared that raising cigarette taxes would bring both immediate and long-term positive effects on the State health care.

According to the statistics, cited by Weston-Broome, Louisiana State holds a solid last place in overall health care and 44th place in the list of the states with highest cigarette taxes. She claimed that in case the bill is approved it would not only save lives and improve health by decreasing the rates of smokers but also would help generating up to $200 million per year for cash-strapped health care.

Public Health authorities backed the bill by stating that it was more than a simple tax increase, it was a health care reform issue that would make the State Public Health much better than it currently was.

During the hearing, the committee members as well heard the arguments of tax increase opponents, mainly cigarette retailers and convenience store owners who cited the sales reports from the states with hefty cigarette taxes and significant sales declines after those taxes were imposed.

“I simply believe that is terribly unfair to impose higher taxes to an unprotected already deprived minority of the Louisiana residents,” claimed Sidney Barker, vice president of Louisiana Tobacco Retailers Association. “22 percent of the state population, with majority of them being low-income or jobless people would be taxed to collect revenue for the program that would cover all the residents.”

"What are you going to tax next when there would be no smokers in Louisiana?" asked Cigs and Booze store owner Gil Whitestone. "May be it would be pizza, soda, hamburgers or French-fries because they are unhealthy too? It seems ridiculous to point out health issues every time somebody wants to raise taxes. Smokers are definitely aware of the health complications, but it is their choice to keep puffing."

However, the biggest opposition of the bill came from Gov. Jindal, who stated that no tax increases would be imposed in the nearest future, since the General Assembly should seek for the clever and reasonable long-term approaches to increase the revenues instead of taxing everything.

Karen Peterson stated that she thought, “The Governor will change his mind and reconsider the proposal.”

Yet, when it came to the voting, Jindal's pressure won out. The amendment was voted down 11-7 by the House Ways and Means Committee, therefore the bill has not passed even the first hurdle. The voting results were praised by the Louisiana Republican Party, but Rep. Sharon Weston-Broome named the decision wrong and regrettable.

Nevertheless, bill sponsors confirmed that they would make another attempt to push it later, after holding preliminary discussions with legislators.

Meantime, Mississippi General Assembly approved the cigarette tax hike. Therefore, Mississippi smokers would now have to fork up 86 cents a pack of only state taxes. Louisiana cigarette tax remains at 36 cents a pack. The US average cigarette tax is currently at $1.19 a pack.