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NC House Speaker Strikes Down RJR Bill [01/05-2]
Excerpts from: RJR bill doesn't get far
By Pat Smith The
News-Observer [01/05/04]
A bill that would have significantly increased the cost of business for some
small cigarette companies was approved in the Senate last April without dissent.
Before the House could vote, though, Morgan sent the bill to what amounts to
a dead-letter box.
The bill had been introduced by Sen. Linda Garrou, who's from Winston-Salem, the
home of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. It would have required companies that have not
joined the landmark tobacco settlement to leave all the money they are required
to deposit in the escrow account. Under current law, a cigarette company that
does business in only a few states can get most of the money back in a few days
or weeks.
Big Tobacco is rarely defeated in the North Carolina legislature. In just the
past two sessions it has turned aside more than a dozen attempts to increase the
state tobacco tax; in December, lawmakers granted roughly $200 million in tax
breaks to RJR and Philip Morris USA Inc.
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