According to the Nashua Telegraph, lobbyists for grocery and convenience stores in New Hampshire are pushing a proposal that will cut cigarette taxes from $1.78 to $1.68 per pack, helping stores hire more employees and give more hours to existing employees.

The proposed tax cut—which tobacco industry lobbyists say would be the first actual cigarette tax cut by any state in more than 40 years—would help reverse the steady downward sales trend that has befallen the stores in the wake of four cigarette tax increases approved by the state legislature and state governor over the past six years. “Even a small reduction in the tax will help the state’s convenience stores increase sales and will benefit the state in this challenging economic time,” Donna O’Donoghue, executive director of the New England Convenience Store Association, told the Telegraph.

John Dumais, president of the New Hampshire Retail Grocers, told the Telegraph he believes the tax cut will help generate more revenue for the state. “A lower cigarette excise tax will move New Hampshire away from the tipping point where states raise cigarette taxes to a point that results in less tax revenue than the previous lower rate” However, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute claims the tax cut will cause the state to incur spending cuts due to projections of $15 million in lost revenue per year.