BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ North Dakota's Legislature has defeated a pair of bills aimed at increasing tobacco taxes.
The Senate voted 30-17 on Wednesday to kill a bill that would raise the state's 44-cent cigarette tax to $2 per pack.
North Dakota's House last week voted 56-34 to reject a measure that would raise the state's cigarette tax to $1.54 a pack. Tax on a can of snuff would jump from 60 cents to $2.72.
North Dakota ranks 46th among states in the amount of tax smokers pay.
Retailers have successfully fought off several attempts to raise the state's tobacco tax in the past two decades. The last increase was imposed in 1993.