RI cigarette tax to rise $1 at midnight

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - By the end of the week, a pack of cigarettes in Rhode Island will carry the highest excise tax in the country.

Rhode Island will raise the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1, to $3.46, at the stroke of midnight Thursday.

The tax hike is part of fiscal year 2009 budget recently passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Carcieri. It is designed to close a $357 million deficit.