Ways and Means passes cigarette tax bill to fund Medicaid

By SHELIA BYRD
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. --The House Ways and Means Committee approved two pieces of legislation on Monday aimed at creating revenue sources for the Division of Medicaid and the state's struggling trauma care system.
Committee members heard from House Medicaid Chairman Dirk Dedeaux, D-Gulfport, who explained that one bill would increase the excise tax on cigarettes by $1.
Currently, Mississippi's cigarette excise tax is 18 cents - among the lowest in the nation. Gov. Haley Barbour has vetoed past cigarette tax legislation and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, has said he won't consider any tax bills this year.
Dedeaux said the tax would generate about $174 million annually, based on figures from the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University. He said 90 percent of the revenue would be earmarked for Medicaid. The other 10 percent would go to the trauma system.
Lawmakers are searching for a revenue source for Medicaid because the health care program for the underprivileged is facing a $92 million deficit in the current fiscal year. And, Medicaid Executive Director Robert L. Robinson has told lawmakers the program will need an extra $168 million in funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Ways and Means passes cigarette tax bill to fund Medicaid