Pennsylvania Governor Proposes Cigarette Tax Increase
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania's governor has proposed raising the cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack to help doctors pay medical malpractice insurance premiums that are owed to a state-operated fund by Jan. 1, according to an Associated Press report.
Rosemarie Greco, Gov. Ed Rendell's director of the state Office of Health Care Reform, said that the 25-cent-per-pack boost would raise $181 million annually to pay the state-operated backup malpractice insurer, called MCare, the Associated Press reported.
The state currently taxes cigarettes at a $1-per-pack rate after the state raised the levy by 69 cents last year to help pay for a budget shortfall. The proposed increase in the cigarette tax would be buttressed by about $44 million that is being transferred to the MCare fund annually for a decade, money that comes from a surplus in an automobile insurance fund, Greco said.
Payments to the fund are due in seven weeks. Rendell first proposed a three-year partial subsidy for doctors' MCare premiums in June, but his administration took until this week to finalize a proposal to pay for it, the Associated Press reported.
The administration briefed legislative leaders earlier this week on the plan to pay a total of $220 million this year and for each of at least the next two years.
Rosemarie Greco, Gov. Ed Rendell's director of the state Office of Health Care Reform, said that the 25-cent-per-pack boost would raise $181 million annually to pay the state-operated backup malpractice insurer, called MCare, the Associated Press reported.
The state currently taxes cigarettes at a $1-per-pack rate after the state raised the levy by 69 cents last year to help pay for a budget shortfall. The proposed increase in the cigarette tax would be buttressed by about $44 million that is being transferred to the MCare fund annually for a decade, money that comes from a surplus in an automobile insurance fund, Greco said.
Payments to the fund are due in seven weeks. Rendell first proposed a three-year partial subsidy for doctors' MCare premiums in June, but his administration took until this week to finalize a proposal to pay for it, the Associated Press reported.
The administration briefed legislative leaders earlier this week on the plan to pay a total of $220 million this year and for each of at least the next two years.