Judge throws out cigarette fee

The Pioneer Press reports:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and lawmakers are looking at a $400 million hole in the state's budget after a new 75-cents-a-pack "health impact fee" on cigarettes was declared illegal and unconstitutional by a judge Tuesday.

Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch said the fee, which some legislators called an ill-disguised tax, violates terms of a multibillion-dollar court settlement the state and three tobacco companies struck in 1998.

"The state is bound, like any other party, to the contracts to which it freely and knowingly enters," Fetsch said of the court settlement.

For smokers, it was unclear if the ruling would ever result in a decrease in the cost of cigarettes. Pawlenty said he will seek to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The ruling was a political embarrassment to Pawlenty. He made a 2002 campaign promise to veto any tax increase, then in May backed the 75-cent cigarette charge. At the time, he insisted it be structured as a fee, not a tax. Now some legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, say he tried to be too cute.

"The governor's verbal gymnastics didn't fool anyone," House Minority Leader Matt Entenza said in a statement. "The public recognized this so-called fee was, in fact, a tax. The state wouldn't be in this mess right now if the governor had simply been honest and up-front with the public about what he was doing."

You notice what I put in bold print:who else tries and gets away with voiding contracts until they get caught?