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Cigarette Tax Eyed As Tallahassee Faces Budget Shortfalls

Associated Press file photo

Florida Democrats have renewed calls for a $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes to raise $1 billion.

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: December 11, 2008

Updated: 12/11/2008 10:09 am

TALLAHASSEE - Democratic lawmakers want to raise the cigarette tax, and some Republicans are warming to the idea. Gov. Charlie Crist says he hasn't.

Crist and lawmakers want to use the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund to shore up the state budget. Lawton "Bud" Chiles, son of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, is threatening to sue if they do.

The political scrum over the state budget is intensifying as an expected special legislative session in January grows nearer. Lawmakers and Crist have a $2.2 billion hole to plug in this year's budget and a $3.8 billion hole expected next year.

Democrats have renewed calls for a $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes to raise $1 billion. Crist said he is "not warm and fuzzy" about that, calling it a burden on Floridians during tough times. Some Republican lawmakers are expressing more interest, however. On Wednesday, Senate President Jeff Atwater said he is not ruling it out.

The Chiles Endowment normally supports services for children and seniors. Last spring, Crist and lawmakers used $350 million of it to keep several Medicaid programs afloat. The Chiles family endorsed that but is threatening to sue if state leaders turn the fund into a budget stopper, which could wipe it out, since stock market declines have halved its value to $1.1 billion.

Several lawmakers objected Wednesday to an idea that appeared in a memo written by the governor's staff: merging the Department of Health with the Agency for Health Care Administration.

The health department has a clinical mission, but the agency focuses on "institutional" issues such as insurance, said Durell Peaden, R-Crestview.

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