From “The Lowdown on Home-Buyer Tax Credits“:

Last week, President Barack Obama signed a law that extends through next spring a temporary tax credit of up to $8,000 for some first-time home buyers, which was due to expire Nov. 30. The law also adds a new tax credit of up to $6,500 for certain repeat home buyers. The package, which the government estimates will cost a total of $11 billion, is intended to help spur housing sales, a critical part of the economy.

There’s a good FAQ section in the article after this section.

More reading:
Homebuyers tax credit supported
Will rejuvenated tax credit draw more home buyers?
Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit May Not Be Good For Existing Buyers
Home Buyer Tax Credit Program Should Benefit Market, Realtors Say
The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit – A Consumer’s Point of View

From “Budget Negotiators In Accord To Raise Cigarette Tax To $3 A Pack”

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and top Democrats still sharply disagree on many budget issues, but they have reached an accord on the cigarette tax: It needs to go up $1 a pack.

An internal document from the closed-door, confidential budget talks shows that Democrats now agree with Rell’s proposal to raise the cigarette tax to $3 a pack, up from the current $2 a pack. That is one of the largest tax increases in Rell’s package, raising $103 million more than the state currently receives.

The Democrats had been originally pushing for an additional 50 cents a pack before pushing it further to an additional 75 cents a pack as of January 2010. Now they are matching Rell’s increase at a full dollar and her proposed effective date of Oct. 1.

Here’s a cool chart showing cigarette taxes nationwide (from the above article):