California Tobacco Tax Pits Lance Armstrong Versus Altria

Lance Armstrong, the cycling champion and cancer survivor, is putting $1.5 million behind a ballot measure to add $1 a pack to California’s cigarette tax, even as the tobacco industry has put up most of $40.7 million aimed at stopping it.

Voters in the June 5 presidential primary election will decide whether to raise the tax to $1.87 a pack and steer the additional revenue toward cancer research and stop-smoking programs. Leading the opposition are Altria Group Inc. and Reynolds American Inc., the parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, the two biggest sellers in the U.S.