The word "Tobacco" has been associated with Virginia since early Colonial Days. Before then, the Indians who were here when the colonists arrived, had been smoking tobacco for many years. There is some dispute as to who introduced the practice of tobacco smoking into England. One legend is that it was Sir Francis Drake upon his return to England from Virginia in 1585. Whether it was Drake or someone else who taught Englishmen to smoke may be debatable but it is certain that the practice was bitterly denounced by king and church alike. Popes issued orders excommunicating those who used snuff in church. The denunciation of the use of tobacco by King James I of England is an historical certainty. However, these denunciations went for naught and tobacco smoking literally swept the world. From these early days, various forms for smoking tobacco were developed; During the twentieth century cigarette smoking became by far the most popular. Of course, during this almost five-hundred-year period, Virginia maintained a prominent place in the tobacco growing and producing world. As cigarette smoking gained in popularity, more and more cigarette companies erected plants in the State. Today, Larus and Brother Company, Philip Morris, Inc., Liggett and Myers Company, American Tobacco Company, United States Tobacco Company and Brown and Williamson all have cigarette manufacturing plants located in Virginia. As an adjunct to these manufacturing plants, stemming and redrying plants have been erected in the State, employing in 1965, 3,400 employees who received a total salary in excess of $14,330,000. These plants increased the value of tobacco $25,242,000 and made capital expenditures of approximately $3,817,000.

The manufacture of a package of cigarettes involves far more than the processing of tobacco. In order for a purchaser to receive one package of cigarettes in addition to the processing of tobacco, all of the following are necessary: paper in which the cigarette is wrapped, paper for the package, cellophane in which the package is wrapped, aluminum for other packaging in lieu of paper, adhesives for sealing, ink for lettering the cigarette, package and carton, filters for filtered cigarettes, cartons for shipping and boxes for shipping the cartons to the distributor and retailer: Thus, the cigarette industry is big business and one vitally affecting Virginia's economy.

Because cigarettes are so widely used and the industry manufacturing them so large, the amount of State taxes on cigarettes has increased at a rapid rate. Cigarettes became ready sources for raising extra and needed State revenues caused by our present population explosion and increased demand for State services.

With the thought in mind that Virginia should not by its taxing practices directly harm an industry as vital to its economy as the cigarette industry and also mindful of the fact that Virginia's tax on cigarettes at the time of its initial enactment in 1960 was to be temporary, the 1966 General Assembly adopted House Joint Resolution No. 131 creating a commission to study the effect of the State's taxing policy on the tobacco industry.

Pursuant to this resolution, Governor Godwin appointed W. Brooks George of Richmond and Marvin A. Goode of Virgilina to this Commission. The Speaker of the House of Delegates appointed the following members of the House to the Commission: Howard P. Anderson, Halifax, Robert L. Clark, Stuart, W. C. (Dan) Daniel, Danville and A. H. Richardson, Dinwiddie. The President of the Senate appointed Senator John Galleher, Manassas, Senator George M. Warren, Jr., Bristol and Senator Landon R. Wyatt, Danville to membership on the Commission.

At the organizational meeting of the Commission; W. C. (Dan) Daniel was elected Chairman and Howard P. Anderson, Vice-Chairman. G. M. Lapsley and Frank R. Dunham served as Secretary and Recording Secretary, respectively, to the Commission.

The Commission held public hearings at Richmond and Abingdon. Both of these hearings were well attended and it was the almost unanimous opinion of those who addressed the Commission that the tax on cigarettes was having an injurious effect on the tobacco industry,. was unfair and should be repealed. The Virginia Tobacco Tax Council and various growers from several parts of the State appeared and presented statistical data to illustrate the effect the tax on cigarettes was having on the tobacco industry.