From the Triangle Business Journal:

Some 400 employees of Winston-Salem-based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Inc. (NYSE: RAI) marched in front of the General Assembly Tuesday to protest a proposed $1 per-pack increase in the state’s excise tax on cigarettes.

“We are sending a clear message,” said Reynolds CEO Daniel Delen, at a rally following the march. “The governor’s proposed $1 per-pack tax increase will cause job loss and economic hardship for thousands of North Carolinians.”

Also joining the protest were the mayors of Winston-Salem and the nearby communities of Tobaccoville and King. Many of the marching workers wore T-shirts reading, “North Carolina needs more jobs, not more taxes,”

The tax code shouldn’t be used to penalize the use of a legal product. So how should legislators address the state’s $4 billion budget hole? JLF’s Joe Coletti weighs in on his “Can-Do” budget.