Cigarette smokers on Whidbey Island will start paying through the nose for their habit this year, when a tax increase of 60 cents catapults the tax-per-pack total in Washington state to $1.43, the highest cigarette tax rate in the nation.

As opposed to the recent passage of I-747, which limits annual property tax increases to 1 percent, the handily-passed I-773 pegs a hefty levy to state cigarette taxes starting Jan. 1, with subsequent revenues earmarked for health care for low-income families and tobacco-use prevention programs.

It’s estimated that the tax increase will bring the cost of name brands such as Marlboro and Camel to over $5 a pack throughout the state. I-773 will also increase wholesale taxes on cigars, snuff and chew, which will tag an estimated 30 percent increase in retail prices.

Greg Wasinger, who owns both 7-Eleven franchises in Oak Harbor, said that he’s noticed a slight increase in the sales of cartons of cigarettes, which may indicate that folks are stockpiling prior to the New Year’s tax hike.

“That’s a big hit for people,” Wasinger said of the tax increase.

He said that, while 7-Eleven is not a huge retail seller of cartoned cigarettes, he noticed prior to Jan. 1 that some people were coming in and buying two cartons at a time, which typically doesn’t happen all that often. Now that the new year has arrived, smokers have no choice but to pay more.