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Tuesday, May 27, 2003 |
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Posted on May 22, 2003 Senate debates tax plans
The Associated Press The Senate gave up on raising taxes to add more money to their version of the budget Thursday night, raising the likelihood that health and education programs around the state will see deep spending cuts in July. The Senate passed the budget Wednesday, but held onto it in hopes that they'd be able to agree to some form of tax increase before the weekend that they could include in their $5 billion spending plan. When Democrats and Republicans couldn't work out compromises Thursday night, senators gave up on adding money to the budget bill, sending it back to the House $20 million leaner than when it arrived in March. When the bill hit the floor for debate three weeks ago, objections to portions of it based Senate rules knocked out about $381 million, raising the urgency for a tax increase of some sort. "This is the worst budget that the Senate has ever passed," said Senate Democratic Minority Leader John Land, of Manning. "We have let all of the people of South Carolina down. ... We have let every segment of South Carolina government down." There was "a failure of leadership to bring us together," Land said. "I don't know how you lead a bunch of obstructionists," said Senate Republican Majority Leader Hugh Leatherman, a Florence lawmaker and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Leatherman said Democrats used "the sorriest strategy that could be developed" to stifle progress on the budget that amounted to political brinksmanship. They decided to go home because "it appeared to me we were at an absolute impasse," Leatherman said. In the brinksmanship of this year's Senate budget fight, Leatherman says that the state's most vulnerable citizens lose. As the Senate took up a bill that would include tax increases, Leatherman pleaded with senators to be mindful of the stakes of not raising taxes to cover Medicaid programs: 6,000 people would lose nursing home care, 12,000 seniors would lose home-based services that keep them out of nursing homes and 66,000 people would be cut from the SilverCard prescription program. "What will we tell those seniors and their families?" Leatherman asked. "The blood of the poor and the weak, in my opinion, will be on our hands." Paying for Medicaid "is the most important issue we face this year," said Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, as he introduced Gov. Mark Sanford's tax plan to link an income tax reduction to a cigarette tax increase. For the second time in a week, the Senate rejected that proposal, this time with a a 28-17 vote. Sanford wanted a 53-cent-a-pack increase, which would have raised $171 million for Medicaid programs, and a reduction of income taxes from 7 percent to 5 percent over several years. Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Clearwater, said Sanford's income tax plan would have cost $755 million if fully implemented this year. Before the vote on Sanford's proposal, Moore tried to guarantee that the break wouldn't hurt funding for schools and a children's health insurance program. That measure failed. Sanford's office had been optimistic earlier in the evening that a different version of the proposal would be debated. That didn't happen and it appears the Senate budget won't have new taxes, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. Medicaid is not the only program facing problems with the Senate budget. The state's schools need $326 million to reach the $2,201 in per-student funding the state says is required. Instead, they'll get $1,643 under the budget now headed to the House, the lowest level of funding since 1995. The Education Department estimates that 6,600 teaching jobs may be lost without the extra money. Folks would not comment on any plans Sanford has for easing budget problems in Medicaid or education programs. Sen. David Thomas, R-Fountain Inn, proposed a 2-cent increase in the state sales tax to raise enough money to fill the education gap and to eliminate home and car taxes. That plan failed on a 21-18 vote. When the Senate adjourned, it was on the verge of voting on a proposal from Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, that combined Sanford's cigarette tax-income tax plan with a six-month, penny-on-the-dollar increase in the sales tax. The tax bill will be taken up again Tuesday when the Senate returns. Moore and Leatherman says that bill still gives the Senate an opportunity to raise taxes to fix huge budget problems. And that's what they seem to want. "We absolutely have got to provide funding for Medicaid," Leatherman said. |
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