DATE: Wednesday, November 5, 1997           TAG: 9711050426

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: FAIRFAX                           LENGTH:   35 lines

2 COUNTIES MAY SEEK RIGHT TO INCREASE CIGARETTE TAX

Two Northern Virginia counties say they may ask the General Assembly for permission to raise the local cigarette tax, both for more money and to discourage teen-age smokers.

``We want to make it harder for teen-agers to afford to smoke, and we would like to maximize the revenue we can,'' Gerald E. Connolly, a supervisor in Fairfax County, said Monday. Connolly and several colleagues on the Board of Supervisors are supporting a 15-cents-a-pack increase.

A similar move is under review in Arlington County.

Fairfax and Arlington currently levy a 5-cents-a-pack tax, but neighboring Falls Church and Alexandria tax cigarettes at 25 cents a pack.

``If the cities have a 25-cent tax, then we ought to have at least 15 cents,'' said Arlington Supervisor Albert C. Eisenberg.

In Fairfax, a jump to 20 cents a pack would increase cigarette tax revenues from $2 million to $8.4 million a year.

In 1992, a bill giving Fairfax and Arlington the right to raise their cigarette tax to 15 cents a pack passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.

State Sen. Richard L. Saslaw of Fairfax, the leader of Senate Democrats, said he would support a higher cigarette tax in the two localities. But he said passage of any increase greater than 5 cents a pack was doubtful.

Smokers, not surprisingly, were unhappy with the idea.

``I think it stinks,'' said Kelly Caulk, 32, of Burke.

``They are just trying to tax everything they can.''

Neither board has made a final decision whether to ask the legislature for permission to raise the tax.

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