THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996               TAG: 9601260544
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: ATLANTA                            LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

STATES WITH LOW TAXES ON TOBACCO HAVE MOST SMOKERS, CDC SAYS IN VIRGINIA, THE TAX IS 2.5 CENTS PER PACK, AND 23.4% SMOKE.

Eight of the 10 states with the lowest taxes on cigarettes have higher-than-average rates of adult smokers, according to the government's first snapshot of tobacco use in each state.

The report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined the latest data on smoking, smokeless tobacco, tobacco's health costs, tobacco taxes and state legislation.

In Virginia, which had the lowest tobacco tax of 2.5 cents per pack, 23.4 percent of adults smoke, higher than the national average of 22.9 percent.

The other seven low-taxing, high-smoking states were Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Wyoming, Tennessee, Indiana and West Virginia, according to the CDC study.

The study was based on surveys from 1992-93, the latest years for which the government has figures. Tax information was taken from 1995, but the states with the lowest taxes have not raised them in years.

Washington state had the highest tax on tobacco, 81.5 cents, after raising it from 34 cents in 1993. The survey showed 22.3 percent of adults smoked in Washington before the latest tax hike.

Utah, with a 26.5-cent tax, had the lowest smoking rate, of 15.1 percent. Nevada had the highest smoking rate, 30.3 percent, but only the 22nd-highest tax, 35 cents.

Rounding out the low-taxing 10 were Georgia, with a 12-cent tax and 21.7 percent smoking rate, and Alabama, where the tax was 16.5 cents, and 20.2 percent of adults smoke.

The study ``gives decision makers and policy makers at the state level the information to act in an informed way,'' said Michael Eriksen, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.

There are now 46.8 million adult smokers in the United States. Tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people each year and costs $50 billion annually in health care, according to the CDC.

The agency was careful not to draw conclusions about the data, but in Washington on Thursday, anti-smoking groups seized the opportunity to call for more tobacco controls.

``States which have not moved to curb tobacco consumption by raising excise taxes are paying the price, both in revenue and lives,'' said Dr. Michele Bloch, chairwoman of the Tobacco Control and Prevention Subcommittee of the American Medical Women's Association.

KEYWORDS: SMOKING SMOKERS CIGARETTE STUDY by CNB