JACKSON (AP) — With a proposed Mississippi cigarette tax up in smoke for now, lawmakers are trying to find an alternative way to restore money to a bankrupt fund that gives drivers a discount on car tags.

A bill to increase the state’s 18-cents-a-pack excise tax on cigarettes died when House and Senate negotiators couldn’t agree on a compromise before a Wednesday night deadline. Part of the revenue from the proposed tax would have been earmarked for the tag fund.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, said Thursday that with the state budget buckling under the national recession, lawmakers have to find a new revenue source.

‘‘A bill as major as the tobacco tax doesn’t necessarily die on the day it’s scheduled to die,’’ said Watson, who didn’t go into detail about what he intends to do.

Resurrecting a dead bill takes two-thirds approval of both the House and the Senate.

Watson’s comments came after heated debate in the House over a bill that originally would have diverted $25 million in cigarette tax revenue to the car tag fund.

The diversion wasn’t possible after House and Senate negotiators failed to reach a deal on the cigarette tax increase.

The car tag fund reimburses counties for the tax credit given to vehicle owners. It has run out of money, said Kathy Waterbury, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi State Tax Commission.

‘‘At this point, we owe the counties $7.2 million,’’ Waterbury said Thursday.

Legislators in the mid-1990s created a complicated formula to reduce the price of license plates for cars and trucks, and because of a drop in vehicle sales, that formula is running short on money. Legislators had been looking to a cigarette tax increase as a way to stabilize the annual price of renewing vehicle tags.

Car tag prices vary dramatically according to the type of vehicle and the county in which a driver lives. Tags on new luxury cars can cost hundreds of dollars a year, while those on older cars can be just a few dollars.

Waterbury said counties use the state’s reimbursement to pay for county and municipal governments and school districts.

She said vehicle owners could start feeling the effect of the dwindled fund once the new fiscal year begins July 1.

Rep. Bryant Clark said given the current economic situation, it’s critical the state fulfill its obligation to the counties. Clark, D-Pickens, said tapping the $362 million in Mississippi’s rainy day fund could be an option.

‘‘When I look outside, it’s raining. It’s raining hard,’’ Clark said.

Another option would be restoring the car tag fund by appropriation, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby said, but adding that in a tight economy, ‘‘that’s going to be hard.’’

Lawmakers have voted to give themselves additional time to work on a budget for next fiscal year. They’ll leave the Capitol next week and return in May or June.

Kirby, R-Pearl, agreed the cigarette proposal could be revived, but he said the Senate has no intention of going higher than its final offer to set the tax at 60 cents a pack. The House’s final offer was 80 cents.

‘‘We’re at an impasse. There’s no need of talking if we’re at an impasse,’’ Kirby said Thursday.

Gov. Haley Barbour, if he chooses, could call a special session on the issue. Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist, has opposed cigarette tax increases in the past. As part of his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1, he included an increase of 24 cents a pack for premium cigarettes and 43 cents a pack on cigarettes produced by companies that didn’t participate in the state’s 1997 settlement of a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

House members said the death of the cigarette tax proposal amounts to a tax increase on vehicle owners.

‘‘You can buy cheap cigarettes in Mississippi and high car tags,’’ said Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Charleston. ‘‘We worship the tobacco, noxious weed.’’

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The bill is House Bill 1702.