Barbour supporting new hospital tax and cigarette tax

The AP sits down with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and gets an update on the state of taxes.

AP: In 2008, you proposed a hospital tax to cover about $90 million of the Medicaid budget, similar to a tax hospitals paid for several years before the federal government blocked it. The Legislature debated the plan but never passed it. Is the hospital tax going to reappear in 2009?

Barbour: "It is."

AP: You said several weeks ago that you'll support a cigarette tax increase. Do you want to dedicate the revenue from that tax to a particular program, such as Medicaid?

Barbour: "I'd like to see it go in the general fund."