Senate Panel Pushes Increase In Georgia’s Low Tobacco Tax

State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, Chairman of the Finance Committee, speaks to the media while gathered with other Senate leaders during the first day of the year for the general session of the state legislature in Atlanta in January.

John Amis, File / Associated Press

Georgia’s tobacco tax could more than triple under a late-in-the-game move in the state Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 5-2 on Friday to amend a House resolution to raise the tax per pack of cigarettes to $1.35. Georgia now charges smokers 37 cents per pack, the third-lowest among the 50 states. The federal government charges an additional $1.01 in taxes on each pack of 20 cigarettes.

The full Senate will next consider the proposal.