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WOULD A HEFTY hike in the cigarette tax reduce the number of Virginians who smoke? Very likely. In West Virginia, which imposed a 38-cents-per-pack increase, it looks as though some 20 million fewer packs will be sold this budget year than last. That represents about a 10 percent drop.
But, as Charleston Gazette reporter Phil Kabler notes, "There's no way to determine how much of the 20 million pack drop-off is from people who have kicked the habit, and how much is from people going out of state or on the Internet to buy their cigarettes."