(Columbia) May 22, 2003 - Sue Morris was outside
grabbing a smoke a few blocks from the State House on
Thursday. She couldn't hear the debate underway in the
Senate chambers up Main Street, but, if senators
supporting a cigarette tax increase have their way, they
might hear from Sue, "So if there's ten packs in a
carton, I'm going to pay almost $6 extra a carton.
That's just too much."
Before adjourning Thursday, though, Senators tabled
an increase the cigarette tax by 53 cents tied to a
rollback on income tax.
The Senate is struggling to raise $171 million in
Medicaid funding. Sen. Arthur Ravenel (R) Charleston
says, "We've got one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the
nation, and what in the world is the matter with taxing
a killer?"
Some senators, like Hugh Leatherman, (R) Florence,
see dire consequences for Medicaid recipients without
the tax, "What will we tell these seniors and their
families when they can't get that nursing home care?
What will we tell the parents of the children whose
teeth will decay because they cannot afford a
dentist?"
There is plenty of dissension. Senator Phil Leventis
(D) Sumter, says those families aren't the only ones
hurt if the legislature fails to find new revenue, "Why
is it that it's more significant that we have 6000
people who may not be able to be paid for in nursing
homes, that it is that we have 6000 teachers, just
coincidence I suppose, that won't be in the classrooms
doing what we need."
Under any circumstance, a Senate vote to increase the
cigarette tax would hardly guarantee that cigarettes
would end up costing more or that the Medicaid funding
program would be solved. First of all, the bill would
have to come back to the
House.
House members
have not supported tax increases. The governor has
promised to veto any not tied to an income tax
rollback.
Sen. Glenn McConnell, (R) Charleston, says overriding
the veto would take two thirds of both chambers, "The
only plan that has a glimmer of hope, in my opinion, is
the governor's plan because he can put the muscle of his
office behind it."
By Jack
Kuenzie
updated 8:19am by Chris
Rees
