Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Liquor, Cigarette Tax Bills Introduced

City Council introduced two bills Thursday on behalf of Mayor Nutter to increase the liquor-by-the-drink tax and establish a cigarette tax – bills part of the mayor's package to raise $60 million for the financially-struggling school district.

The city would need permission from the state institute those tax bills. No corresponding legislation has been introduced in the General Assembly, which returns to work in Harrisburg next week.

Nutter's plan would create a $2-a-pack tax on cigarettes. He initially had proposed spending a small portion of that money on a smoking cessation program, but Council President Darrell L. Clarke said all the money now would go toward the schools.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.