RICHMOND, VA. ? Plans to raise Virginia’s cigarette tax have always wound up in the legislative ash heap, snuffed out by the politically muscular tobacco industry and lawmakers keenly aware of state’s 400-year history of reliance on the golden leaf.

As other states have raised cigarette taxes as high as $1.51 per pack to replenish depleted state treasuries and discourage teen smoking, Virginia held fast at 2.5 cents — the nation’s lowest tax on a pack of smokes — even when faced with unprecedented budget shortfalls.

Now, legislators say 2004 is likely to be the year Virginia takes aim at tobacco.

As part of a tax reform package, Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner has proposed upping the state’s cigarette tax to 25 cents per pack and allowing all localities to impose an additional tax of up to 50 cents.

Warner estimates the increase would produce an additional $150 million annually for his treasury. He has said the state would face a $1.2 billion shortfall if lawmakers didn’t adopt his tax reform package.

“I really think we are going to increase the tobacco tax this year,” said Republican state Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, but he added, “I don’t think we’ll get anywhere near the governor’s proposal.”

Seventy-five cents per pack still wouldn’t be anywhere near the highest taxes in the country. New York state last year increased its cigarette tax to $1.50 per pack, and New York City imposed another $1.50 tax, bringing the cost of a pack of cigarettes to more than $7 in New York City.

Kansas’ tax is 79 cents a pack.