COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The South Carolina House gave key approval to the state's $6.3 billion budget Wednesday night after turning back two attempts to raise the seven-cents-a-pack cigarette tax, said the Associated Press.
The bill's was given a second reading on a 104 to 8 vote after Governor Mark Sanford (R) and House Republican leaders continued their daily sniping on who is looking out for taxpayers in the budget and two related bills that spend than $232 million.
But the budget that was expected to get final approval Thursday [image-nocss] would likely not raise the state's cigarette tax, which is the nation's lowest.
One proposal, offered by State Representative Rex Rice (R), would have raised the tax by 30 cents a pack. Rice said the money would be used for smoking cessation and other health programs. The state's and nation's health care systems are "in trouble and we have got to deal with it," Rice said. His proposal failed 58 to 53.
A second proposal included raising the cigarette tax 30 cents a pack in exchange for cutting state income taxessimilar to a plan Sanford proposed after taking office in 2003. State Rep. Tedd Pitts (R) said the higher prices would curb teen smoking.
State Rep. Jim Battle (D) led efforts Tuesday and Wednesday to kill the tobacco tax increases. He said Pitts' amendment was an attempt to punish smokers. Pitts' proposal died on an 82 to 27 vote.
Meanwhile, the Mississippi Senate on Wednesday failed to override Gov. Haley Barbour's veto of a bill (Senate Bill 3084) that would have eased the tax burden on food items while making smokers pay more. The vote was 29 to 20, four votes short of what was needed.
The bill would have cut the 7% grocery taxthe highest such tax rate in the nationin half and increased the cigarette tax from 18 cents a pack to 80 cents this July 1 and to $1 a pack a year later.
Barbour vetoed the bill March 15, calling it a risky tax swap.'' He said the state should not change its tax structure as it faces economic uncertainty caused by Hurricane Katrina. Overriding a veto takes a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House. Because the Senate failed to override, the House will not have to act.
This was the second time the Senate was unable to override a Barbour veto. Last week, the vote came up short on a vetoed bill that would have eliminated the grocery tax over several years, while raising the cigarette tax to 75 cents a pack this July and $1 a year later.
Some senators questioned the bill on grounds it included a provision that would grant lawsuit immunity to tobacco companies. But State Sen. Johnnie Walls (D) said he doubted whether people who are struggling to have enough food to eat care about the immunity provision.
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