DANVILLE, Va. – A pack of cigarettes in Danville could soon cost you an extra .30 cents.
The city is estimating, and hoping, those cents will turn into dollars -- $500,000Â to be exact according to the current version of the city's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Smokers Tracy Gunn and Todd Mosby reacted to the news Wednesday like you'd probably expect.
"I think it takes advantage of people because two things are going to happen: They're either going to have to pay the price or quit smoking," Gunn said.
"They can raise the taxes, but they should raise the taxes on something else besides cigarettes," Mosby said.
The tax is being proposed primarily to help fund the Danville Life Saving Crew, which is the main provider of EMS service in the city.
According to a statement from the Life Saving Crew, the organization gets $80,000Â a year from the city but is now requesting an extra $280,000.Â
"To save someone, to help save lives, that would be alright," Gunn said.
"That's an excellent idea," Mosby said.
They'd also be okay with the money being used to fund education or the Boys and Girls Club.
Convenience store owners 10 News spoke with Wednesday, like Nadeem Hassan, are worried the tax could cause their customers to go to Pittsylvania County or North Carolina to get their fix.
"Cigarettes are already a very highly taxed product and our margins are very low. To see those sales go somewhere else, that's going to be hard," Hassan said.
The city's proposed budget will officially be unveiled Thursday.