South Carolina Officials Squash Health Care Tax As Wrong Path

The South Carolina Senate recently squashed a bill that would have raised cigarette taxes. The revenue from the tax was to be used to help cover health care costs.

South Carolina currently has a cigarette tax of 7 cents per pack, a national low. The bill would have increased the state’s tax to 50 cents per pack, which would have generated $145 million in annual revenue. The national average for cigarette taxes is $1.23 per pack.

This would’ve allowed a maximum of $3000 for individual health insurance plans to help uninsured citizens who earn less than $21,600. Also, small employers could’ve participated by receiving a 67% tax credit if they gave their employees the $3000.

Senate Minority Leader John Land argued against the bill, claiming that it was a waste and would create unnecessary administrative costs. He suggested that the money should go directly into the Medicaid program, allowing it a more direct effect.

Land said he thought the bill was one of the silliest things he’d seen during his time in South Carolina politics, and that he would not vote for it under any circumstances.