Farm groups want new tax for tobacco-quota buyout

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - Farm groups representing six states say the new tax on tobacco products sold in the U.S. should go toward ending the price-control system for tobacco and compensating quota holders. <br> <br> A presidential commission last year proposed raising the federal tax on cigarettes by 17 cents a pack. That would raise three billion dollars a year for a buyout. <br> <br> The tax rose by a nickel per pack in January and by a dime in 2000. <br> <br> R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is against new cigarette taxes, and a company spokeswoman says R.J.R. has consistently opposed funding a quota buyout through any increase in the federal cigarette excise tax. <br> <br> Under a buyout, quota owners would be paid to give up their quota. Payments to farmers would give them the option of growing other crops or getting out of farming altogether.

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