South Carolina's Senate is expected to begin debating a 50 cents-a-pack cigarette tax increase that would lift the nation's lowest smoking tax higher than neighboring Georgia and North Carolina.
South Carolina now charges 7 cents a pack and Georgia's rate is 37 cents. North Carolina's is 35 percent.
The debate expected to start Tuesday could last a couple of days. Supporters think they have enough votes to pass a bill that would raise $159 million. Most of the money split between expanding health care for the poor and tax credits to help employers make health insurance available to workers.
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