So what has our state Legislature accomplished this year? Well, let's see,
they passed an enormous tax increase on cigarettes. Thankfully, that bill
was vetoed and the House sustained it, though some might say this was bad
because is was all earmarked for healthcare. Right? Consider this: Just
a pat of the new tax (only one million dollars) was to go to new marketing
programs in the Department of Agriculture. (For tobacco grown in South
Carolina, perhaps?) Anyhow, this bump in revenue, if history is any
example, might not have lasted a year (the bump for the tax shift in 2006
sure didn't) and would definitely have led to even higher taxes and
spending. Unless otherwise checked, as many of you know, bureaucracies
always grow and this one grows like proverbial Topsy!
Indeed, state spending has grown by over 42% during the last three years.
(Did your discretionary spending go u that much, or has it gone down?)
Last year the Legislature spent over $1 billion dollars (one billion
dollars!) in new revenue. Now they tell us they don't have enough money to
pay for school buses they promised; nor to properly fund the operating
expenses of our schools, which they promised as part of the tax shift; nor
fund the prison system (for some students who flunk out of school?). So
much so, that our detention officers now need to add open rebellion to
their concerns. However, they still have money for Legislation slush funds
known as "the Competitive Grants Program". (So they have money with which
to buy votes but not to buy school buses?)
Dorchester County Taxpayers Association scheduled three candidate debates
this spring to address these very issues with incumbents an challengers in
the races for the House of Representatives and Senate in lower Dorchester
County, leading up to the primary vote on June 10th. Only one of the
incumbents, Heyward Hutson, was accountable enough to face his opponent in
front of an audience of the county's taxpayers. The other two incumbents
apparently couldn't work up the courage to so, even though their opponents
(Mike Rose and Tara Bussjager) did. Can you imagine why?
Sincerely,
John Braund, Chairman
Dorchester County Taxpayers Association
