Senate Rule Kills Sales Tax Proposal Wednesday May 14, 2003 6:29am How Concered Are You About Catching SARS?  Very Concerned  Somewhat Concerned  Not Concerned At All disclaimer  |  results  |  more polls ___  ABC News 4 Interact  ___    • Signup for eNews Alerts    • ABC News 4 Pulse Poll    • Whats Your Opinion?    • Printable Version    • E-Mail This Story Columbia (AP) -  An attempt to raise the state sales tax to generate about 200 million dollars for public schools died in the Senate Tuesday.  Fountain Inn Republican David Thomas proposed a plan to raise one billion dollars by increasing the state sales tax to seven percent from five percent.  But Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell asked the plan to be ruled out of order because it altered permanent law.  Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer last week struck down tax increase proposals, citing Senate rules that say permanent law can't be changed in the state budget.  Thomas' proposal would have eliminated nearly 95 percent of local government taxes on cars and homes and generated 200 million dollars for schools.  Education Department figures show schools could face laying off as many as 66-hundred teachers without 326 million dollars in the 2003-2004 budget. » Find More Articles Related To This One » Search The Internet For More On This Topic Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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