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Sen. Hutto backs hike in state cigarette tax, keeping non-violent offenders out of jail

It's simple math. A $200 million lottery can't pay for a $3.5 billion state public system.

And, while South Carolina is spending $13,000 to $14,000 a year to keep a non-violent criminal behind bars, it's spending only $7,000 a year per child for education.

These were some of the figures Sen. Brad Hutto pointed out when making a case for spending more money on the front end to keep those expensive non-violent criminals out of jail.

Everywhere he goes, Hutto says, he is asked why money from the state lottery isn't solving the budget problems of the education system.

Speaking at the Orangeburg Morning Rotary Club Wednesday, he was asked again.

"The lottery was never intended to supplant state funding of education," he said. "The vast majority of that money is for college aid."

"Orangeburg Consolidated District 5 has a budget of $53 million, so you can see that the $200 million available from the lottery would fund only three or almost four school districts of that size," he said.

The lottery, Hutto said, makes it possible for South Carolina's high school students with a B average to go on to state-supported technical and four-year colleges, and if they can keep that B average, they can keep the Life Scholarship from the lottery.

"The purpose is to encourage students who want to go to college in our state and to do well; it makes it possible for them to do it," he said. "We do use the money also to pay for computers in classrooms and for other current technology in our schools."

"The state Legislature is faced with unprecedented budget problems," he said. "We don't have the numbers in revenue to run the programs we have in the past."

With less money, the state can't afford the price of keeping non-violent criminals in jail, and non-violent crimes have increased.

"There are some very bad people that have to be locked up, but some people are harmless to others, but for some reason, just can't follow the rules," he said. "I say, let them pay fines, pick up trash, be kept in home detention."

As an attorney, Hutto watches some non-violent criminals being taken away to jail and thinks to himself, "That's just not $13,000 worth of dangerous."

Meanwhile, the state's budget is flat, he said, and the education system is being cut further.

One proposed way of increasing state revenue is through a cigarette tax, which Hutto supports, but which proponents have been unable to pass.

"Nobody is required to smoke," he said. "All we're talking about is raising the tax up to what other states require."

Most people in the health care facilities are their because of poor health habits, he said, and cigarette smoking is one of the main ones.

"An especially good reason for the cigarette tax is that it prices smoking out of the range of young people," he said. "If they have to pay $4 a pack, they're not going to be able to buy as many."

Hutto also supports a statewide accommodation tax, which he says is the least likely tax to be felt. "South Carolina is a great state for tourism," he said, "and yet tourists come in and stay at our hotels and eat in our restaurants, and although we do receive revenue from those businesses as a result, we don't get a penny from those out-of-staters."

The state has to find a way to raise revenue, he said. Some legislators make pledges to their constituents that they will not raise taxes, and that "sounds good in a very superficial way," he said, but he tries to make the most sensible decisions to make our state the best it can be.

"If we don't do something to stop the bleeding in education -- we've cut all we can," he said. Education revenue is projected to fall again by 5 percent, he said, but the legislature has stalled in terms of agreeing on ways to bring in more revenue.

"The great way would be if the economy would take off, then we would have more revenue," he said, "but that doesn't seem to be about to happen. And even when it does, it isn't realized immediately by the state."

Hutto says he is a man of many hats: father, husband, attorney, senator. Other areas discussed included:

-- The rural school districts' lawsuit against the state system. "The vast majority of people in Allendale County live in mobile homes and can't afford the property taxes that would pay for education, but right next to them is Beaufort County with Hilton Head where the residents can easily afford to pay for good education. ... It doesn't make sense that money isn't spread out more evenly for the good of the whole state."

-- Orangeburg. Hutto says he passes through 32 different towns and cities in the Orangeburg/Barnwell/Hampton/Allendale area that he represents, and none have made the kinds of improvements that Orangeburg has in downtown aesthetics and in industrial growth.

Some formerly prosperous towns are tending toward ghost towns now, he said.

"Orangeburg is the most likely of undeveloped counties to pull itself up into becoming a developed county, and the reason the downtown is looking so good is because we've put money into it."

-- Edisto River. Hutto encouraged people to enjoy the Edisto River as Orangeburg's greatest resource.

-- Jury duty. The two places that we are all equal is in the voting booth and in the jury box. Although most responsible people take advantage of their right to vote, Hutto encouraged the Rotarians to serve their jury duty as part of their civic responsibilities.

-- Boy Scouts. Hutto said someone told him that before a child is five or six, you can't explain very much to them that they can understand, and then at age 12, they understand a lot, but don't want to listen.

"So I figure that between the ages of six and 11 is when you can reach them. ... My wife and I are involved in Scouting and devote a lot of time and energy to the Scouts."

T&D Feature Editor Nancy Wooten can be reached by e-mail at nwooten@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540.