Tobacco Farmer Says Upcoming Cigarette Tax Increase Already Hurting Business

Source from:  NBC17 03/23/2009

John Weaver's family has farmed tobacco in Johnston County since the late 1700s. "You just don't pick up roots and go somewhere else. It's a very localized thing," he said. He farms tobacco on only about 10 percent of his 1,250-acre farm in Stancils Chapel. But it accounts for about 80 percent of his income. "It's a high value, high revenue crop. It's the basis of my operation," Weaver said. The business has changed, particularly after the federal government ended a tobacco quota program in 2004. That brought the farmers into the free market. Some got out of business. Others expanded. The county still has about 160 tobacco operations, according to County Extension Director Bryant Spivey. Weaver's operation grew. But with the federal excise tax on cigarettes going up by 62 cents on April 1st, tobacco companies expect people to smoke less, Weaver said. One of the companies that buys Weaver's tobacco already cut its order by 15 percent because of the tax increase. He expects bigger cuts next year, particularly if Governor Bev Perdue's proposal to raise the state cigarette tax by a dollar gets through the legislature. "Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and go. And either get out or decide to stay in," Weaver said. "I think we are being unfairly taxed… the federal and state government already get more than we do off an acre of tobacco in the tax." But Weaver says he has too much invested to quit the family business. "This is what I do. I'm committed to farming as long as I can stay here. But how long I can stay here being taxed, I don't know," he said. Enditem