Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands benefit from tobacco funds

Saturday, October 11, 2003

NEW YORK, NY: Reuters News Service reports that, in fiscal 2000, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, along with 46 states and the District of Columbia, began receiving payments from the four biggest cigarette makers under a settlement agreement reached in late 1998.

By the end of the current fiscal year, the 46 states and the three other jurisdictions will have received more than $39 billion from the tobacco companies since 2000, according to the report.

The annual payments have been projected out to 2025, but under the settlement they continue in perpetuity.

After 25 years, the four companies, Altria Group Inc's Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc, British American Tobacco PLC's Brown & Williamson, and Loews Corp's Lorillard, are projected to have paid more than $200 billion. 

  Back...

  Printable version