Colorado to vote in Nov. whether to triple cigarette tax

Colorado voters will decide whether to triple state cigarette taxes to discourage youth from taking up the habit and raise an estimated $315 million next year for anti-tobacco and other health campaigns.

An initiative approved Monday for the November ballot would raise the state tax from 84 cents to $2.59 per pack. Voters last raised cigarette taxes in 2004.

The Campaign for a Healthy Colorado, a coalition of health groups and professionals, is sponsoring the initiative.

It collected signatures to put the question to voters after cigarette sales in Colorado rose last year – the first time that happened since the 2004 tax increase.