A State House study committee focusing on the costs and effects of smoking met for the first time Thursday.
Democratic State Representative Michelle Au, who is a medical doctor, is leading an effort to increase taxes on cigarettes in Georgia, which is the second lowest in the nation. Experts say Georgia is spending hundreds of millions more on Medicaid for people sickened by smoking than it gets from the cigarette tax.
While Republicans generally oppose tax increases, a handful of Republican senators signed a 2019 resolution encouraging the House, which writes the budget, to raise the cigarette tax to at least the national average to help offset health care costs.
