CIGARETTES CHEAPER FOR HILL LAWMAKERS

Smokers in Washington usually cough up big bucks for cigarette taxes -- but
that does not apply to one elite group on Capitol Hill.

Members of Congress and other Hill insiders can buy cigarettes in the House
and Senate without paying the District of Columbia's hefty cigarette tax or
its sales tax.

The Senate sells a carton of cigarettes for $22.90 -- $10.40 less than the
closest drugstore. At the House of Representatives, a carton goes for $262E

That annoys some D.C. residents -- who pay a 65-cent cigarette tax each
time they buy a pack and another 5.75 percent sales tax on top of that --
especially while lawmakers increasingly look at cigarette-tax increases as
a way to reap new revenue while deterring smoking. The cigarette tax
increased from 50 cents to 65 cents in 1993.

"That's unfair," said Terrence Casey, 23, a nonsmoker who lives in the
District. "They should be taxed like everyone else.

"The Senate-run convenience stores and the privately operated House
concessions, which traditionally have sold cigarettes and other merchandise
virtually tax-free, are open to the public though few seem to know about them.

They are "one of the unknown perks of working on the Hill," said Paul
Stilp, a former Senate aide.

Tobacco sales in the Senate appear to be brisk, though the Committee on
Rules and Administration and the Architect of the Capitol, which oversee
the restaurant and gift-shop operations, will not release figures on the
amounts sold.

Local merchants sold about 27 million packs of cigarettes last fiscal year.
That brought in about $17.6 million to the cash-strapped District, its
annual financial report shows.

A fight for the stores' taxes appears unlikely.

"Of course, I hate to see any loss in potential revenue, but because of the
congressional oversight role in our city, that's a battle I do not care to
take on," said D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz, at-large Republican.

Neither D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams nor any of the eight senators and
representatives contacted for this article agreed to interviews, including
several who have sponsored anti-smoking legislation.

As cigarettes increasingly disappear from most federal buildings, they
remain as common in the Senate as tourists and teen-agers jamming the
Capitol's ornate halls.

"On a regular day, we might sell 50 to 75 packs," said Robert King, a
manager at the popular Senate-run cafeteria in the Capitol.

Mr. King said the store sells about 15 different brands at "the cheapest
price in town." Marlboros and Newports are the most popular brands --
especially at $2.70 a pack, as a sign plastered near the cash register
advertises. The same pack costs $3.80 at the CVS drugstore at Pennsylvania
Avenue and Seventh Street SE. The House sells packs of cigarettes for $2.95.

Tourists are less likely to wander into the Senate's largest mini-store,
and the only one to sell cartons of cigarettes. It is tucked away on a
ground-floor corridor between the Dirksen and Hart Senate office buildings.
It sells roughly 20 to 25 cartons a week, saleswoman Odalis Malambo said.
Most of the people buying them look like staffers, she said. Every once in
a while, someone will buy three cartons at a time, but usually just one,
she added2E

The store is open five days a week from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and also sells
soft drinks, candy, Grenadier cigars, pipe cleaners and other items. Only
Hav-A-Tampa cigars are sold at the Senate's basement cafeteria store in the
Hart office building. Tins of Skoal chewing tobacco, packs of cigarettes
and packages of Red Man and Levi Garrett tobacco sit amidst the fresh-cut
flowers and birthday cards in the tiny store. All of the stores'
merchandise is tax-free, with some minor exceptions.

The 24-cents-per-pack federal excise tax on cigarettes is already built
into the price when the Senate buys them, said Tamara Somerville of the
Rules and Administration Committee.

The sundry shops sold $466,525 in merchandise last fiscal year, a General
Accounting Office report released last week indicates. Tobacco sales were
not itemized.

The Senate also runs a gift shop that sells Senate-emblazoned memorabilia
such as Tiffany tankard mugs and silver baby cups.

It cost taxpayers approximately $1.7 million to subsidize the Senate's
stores and restaurants, the GAO report indicates. The operation lost
$400,000 less than the previous year because of employee buyouts. Next
year, they expect to lose less money, but the report says if operating
trends continue, they will still "require future financial support.

"Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the Rules and
Administration Committee, and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, ranking Democrat
from Connecticut, declined to be interviewed regarding the report. During
the last Congress, Mr. Dodd co-sponsored legislation that would have raised
federal cigarette taxes.

Last year, the House yanked its cigarette vending machines, but it still
sells cigarettes in its privately run convenience store in the basement of
the Longworth House Office Building.

Sales clerk Carlene Pride estimates that she sells "a couple hundred" packs
a day at $2.95 a pack and $26 a carton.

On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, executive branch buildings are
permitted to sell cigarettes, though they are banned from vending machines,
said April Kaufman, a spokesman for the General Services Administration,
which oversees many of the country's federal office buildings. If they do
sell cigarettes, the price includes all applicable local taxes and the
cigarette tax, she said.

Military personnel can still buy tax-free cigarettes at post exchanges and
commissaries, a Defense Department spokesman said.