The proposal is part of a larger Assembly Republican plan to pay for roads that appears to have a slim chance of passing. "Some of my friends on the conservative side would criticize us for trying to raise taxes," Kooyenga, a vice-chair of the Legislature's budget committee, said. Little cigars are the same size as cigarettes and are smoked like cigarettes, but are treated differently under tax law because they're wrapped in brown paper that contains tobacco leaf. A quarter of high school students in Wisconsin say they've tried cigarettes, while a little less than that amount say they've tried cigars, according to a 2016 report from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Even a spokesman for Altria, one of the largest producers of tobacco products, said the company supports uniform taxes on cigarettes and little cigars. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald didn't immediately reply to a message seeking his position, nor did a spokesman for Gov.