The State reports: Committee OK's 50-cent hike to SC cigarette tax

South Carolina's cigarette tax would increase by 50-cents per pack under a plan advancing through the Legislature.

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday voted 16-5 to raise the nation's lowest per pack tax from 7 cents to 57 cents.

The nod came after lawmakers scrapped plans to use the $145 million that would be raised by the tax to set up a new health insurance program for the state's low-income residents.

Instead, much of the money would go to a trust fund for future health care needs. Some $5 million would go to a cancer research center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

South Carolina's cigarette tax hasn't been increased since 1977.