Taking their voices to Raleigh

Reynolds American stages rally at General Assembly, also attended by several legislators from the Triad, to oppose additional tobacco taxes

RALEIGH (Winston-Salem Journal) - A few months ago, a significant increase in North Carolina's tobacco tax seemed inevitable.

But yesterday, as Reynolds American staged an energetic rally at the General Assembly, Gov. Bev Perdue acknowledged that her push for a big hike in the tobacco tax is dead for the year.

"I think you have seen what the House and Senate thought of my proposal to raise the tobacco tax by a dollar," said Perdue, a Democrat. "Obviously, that is not going to go anywhere this session."