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The U-S House of Representatives today voted to raise the national cigarette tax by sixty-one cents, making the tax an even buck. Florida advocates have been pushing a state cigarette tax hike of a buck. Now they are concerned the federal action may preempt a hike on the state level. Here’s a portion of the email circulating today:

Great public health news from our nation’s capitol today, as the U.S. House adopted a 61-cents per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax, with Senate action expected to follow in the very near future. While this federal movement could impact our concurrent efforts in Florida to raise our state’s woefully low cigarette tax, we will continue to press on. The prospects of leveraging a higher federal levy with an increased state tax represents one of the greatest public health opportunities of our time.