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Eye On Boise

Otter on cig tax: ‘Gonna have to convince me’

Gov. Butch Otter waits for technical details to be settled for a press conference via the Idaho Education Network on Monday (Betsy Russell)
Gov. Butch Otter waits for technical details to be settled for a press conference via the Idaho Education Network on Monday (Betsy Russell)

Gov. Butch Otter is holding a post-State of the State press conference via the Idaho Education Network, though few are participating on the network and many are in the room with him at the Idaho Department of Education. Among the questions so far: What Otter thinks of the proposed $1.25 per pack cigarette tax hike, which he didn't mention in his State of the State address. "It depends upon where that money's going to go," Otter said of the proposal. "I'm a user pay guy... I have talked to the chairman. In fact I had a discussion since my State of the State speech with Chairman Lake, and I said I'm not convinced - you're going to have to convince me."



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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