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Michigan to face hike in tax on cigarettes; Governor proposes levy of $2 per pack By LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE BLADE STAFF WRITER Sorry, but Lambertville resident Ted Ringer wonÂ’t be helping Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm fill a $1.3 billion hole in the stateÂ’s budget by paying a proposed higher tax on cigarettes. And her theory that raising the cigarette tax from the current $1.25 to $2 per pack will also encourage 60,000 Michigan adults like him to stop smoking is likewise unlikely, he said. As long, of course, as Ohio keeps its cigarette tax at a more reasonable 55 cents per pack. "ItÂ’s like half the price here," Mr. Ringer said yesterday as he purchased a carton of cigarettes at a convenience store along Alexis Road in Toledo. Like thousands of other Michigan smokers lucky enough to live near the Ohio state line, Mr. Ringer said yesterday that he will continue to buy his smokes south of the border. In doing so, he may avoid altogether the governorÂ’s proposal to hike MichiganÂ’s cigarette tax to the second-highest in the country, behind only New Jersey at $2.05 per pack. By comparison, OhioÂ’s cigarette tax ranks 30th nationally. According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly a quarter of MichiganÂ’s adult population smokes, compared to a national average of about 22.7 percent. "There are so many people that smoke in Michigan, especially up north," Mr. Ringer noted. "I donÂ’t know how they would be able to afford it." Gov. Granholm does not know how the state can replace the loss of federal funds for the stateÂ’s health-care program for low-income residents without the proposed cigarette tax increase, which would generate $295 million in new revenues. About half of the stateÂ’s current cigarette tax revenue of $860 million goes to public schools; most of the money from the proposed tax increase would go to fund $400 million in lost federal Medicaid funds and increase in state caseloads. The cigarette tax increase is part of the governorÂ’s budget plan for the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. It is expected to be presented to the Michigan House and Senate appropriations committees tomorrow. While MichiganÂ’s Republican-dominated legislature has not ruled out hiking the cigarette tax yet, Tempehiking the cigarette tax yet, Tempe