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House Rejects Cigarette Tax Increase: Horry County Leaders Voted Against Bill

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Zane Wilson, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Mar. 29--COLUMBIA -- All seven of Horry County's House members voted with the majority Tuesday to slap down a 32-cent cigarette tax increase.

The county is the biggest tobacco producer in the state, but opponents of the increase said it was not just about protecting tobacco, it was about not imposing a tax increase.

The tax, atop the existing 7 cents a pack, was expected to raise $115 million to be used for health insurance for poor children and other health services.

Proponents of the increase said the state should cease to have the lowest-priced smokes.

"I'm tired of us being last in all the bad things," said Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville.

He said he is from a tobacco-growing county and it is hard to take such a stand but "it's the right thing to do."

"It's not the right thing to do. It's a recipe for disaster," said Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach.

The proposed health care expenditures were in areas his subcommittee oversees.

Cigarette tax income is not stable, and new services should not be added that depend on the money, he said.

Rep. Jim Battle, D-Nichols, said he is in the tobacco business and does not think a tax increase on cigarettes is fair. High-fat food also causes health problems and no one was proposing a tax increase on such meals, he said.

The cigarette tax increase, discussed for most of the legislative session, went down 67-46, although it could come up later in a separate bill.

And it is likely to come up again when the Senate debates the budget.

The vote came on a motion to delay work on the tax-increase amendment to the state budget, so a yes vote was a vote against the cigarette tax increase.

Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, and Rep. Carl Anderson, D-Georgetown in favor of the tax increase.

"I think eventually it's going to come, but I don't think this is the place for it, in the budget," said Rep. Billy Witherspoon, R-Conway.

Witherspoon said cigarette sales have gone up in South Carolina since Georgia and North Carolina raised their cigarette taxes. That means more money for South Carolina, he said.

Besides, the state has more revenue than it expected, "so why raise taxes on anything?" Witherspoon said.

On other budget matters, final approval of $1 million for Interstate 73/74 planning and $2 million for a new matching tourism promotion fund did not come up for final approval.

A $5 million allocation for beach renourishment should come up for approval today, with Horry County scheduled to get about half of it.

Edge expected difficulty selling the allocation to colleagues even after Gov. Mark Sanford said he did not put his hometown, Sullivans Island, in the budget to get the other half of the money.

Sanford's budget set aside $5 million for beach renourishment in coastal communities. It did not mention a location.

However, the state agency that oversees beach renourishment has Sullivans Island listed with Horry as the next in priority.

Edge said members are skeptical that Sanford did not know that when he put the money in his budget request.

Sanford has vetoed beach renourishment money until this year.

Contact ZANE WILSON at 357-9188 or zwilson@thesunnews.com [mailto:zwilson@thesunnews.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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Source: The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

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