The Sun News | 03/13/2003 | Tricks Prevail in S.C. House says it as well as anything I've seen. Fuzzy math and funny money from the alleged leadership of the S.C. House of Representatives.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Jimmy Moore at Common Voice raises some interesting points concerning the debate over the cigarette tax, and I suppose yesterday's action by the alleged Republican leadership meets his definition of "creative revenue-generating ideas." But some of this crap still sticks in my craw.
Mossback Democrat Herb Kirsh laments the fact that retailers in his area will be hurt by those going across state lines to buy cheaper cigarettes - where was this concern for retailers and their employees when the issue was shutting down video poker? The Employment Security Commission says that of the approximately 3,000 workers left unemployed when the anti-gambling jihad took hold, just 212 have found work since.
Mossback Democrat Herb Kirsh laments the fact that retailers in his area will be hurt by those going across state lines to buy cheaper cigarettes - where was this concern for retailers and their employees when the issue was shutting down video poker? The Employment Security Commission says that of the approximately 3,000 workers left unemployed when the anti-gambling jihad took hold, just 212 have found work since.
Republicans claim their plan to refinance tobacco bonds to fund Medicaid is designed to stop spending non-recurring dollars to pay for recurring needs - but the proposed Medicaid budget still relies on at least $45 million and maybe up to $70 million in one-time money.
While claiming to follow their governor's lead in funding Medicaid without raising taxes, the alleged House leadership seems to be ignoring something else Governor Moonbeam said in his State of the State address:
"Let this also be the year that we curb the annualization problem. No sensible family would use a one-time bonus to finance a new car - if they didn't have some other source for payments - not just this year's - but also each following year's payments. This principle should also hold true for our state."
While claiming to follow their governor's lead in funding Medicaid without raising taxes, the alleged House leadership seems to be ignoring something else Governor Moonbeam said in his State of the State address:
"Let this also be the year that we curb the annualization problem. No sensible family would use a one-time bonus to finance a new car - if they didn't have some other source for payments - not just this year's - but also each following year's payments. This principle should also hold true for our state."
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Tax smokers or everyone pays, study says
Private health insurance premiums could increase 4 to 9 percent if the state does not fully fund the state-federal Medicaid partnership, a study by the Grant Thornton accounting firm states.
Private health insurance premiums could increase 4 to 9 percent if the state does not fully fund the state-federal Medicaid partnership, a study by the Grant Thornton accounting firm states.
Proposed State Budget Underfunds Health Care By $95 Million, No wait, $51 Million, No, Um, It's Funded Completely!
Thanks to creative financing by the alleged leadership of the S.C. House of Representatives, South Carolina's woefully inadequate Medicaid system is now fully funded! Except, of course, they are proposing to continue the practice of funding recurring needs with non-recurring money - the kind of irresponsible action that has created the budget crisis we're now in.
By refinancing the state's tobacco settlement funds, House leaders Wilkins, Harrell and Quinn say they can fill the roughly $51 million hole in the Ways & Means Committee's Medicaid budget. They say it will raise approximately $45 million - though that still doesn't equal $51 million, but who's counting - and that this is all good, solid, recurring money that we can count on for years to come. No, wait a minute, upon further review, they admit that it does include $15 million in non-recurring funds, maybe.
The fact is, the alleged House leadership continues to play with funny money. Under their revised proposal, Medicaid would be funded with $10 million in unspecified eligibility changes (read: kicking people off the rolls), at least $45 million in one-time money (including $30 million they admitted to last week and $15 million from tobacco settlement refinancing), a $20 million tax increase on hospitals and by taking $20 million out of an underfunded Department of Education.
The time for Bandaids is over. This temporary, one-time solution will leave us with an even bigger problem next year. It is time for a stable, recurring, dedicated source of funding for health care, not more creative financing. The cigarette tax is the only solution that works, and the alleged leadership knows it.
Thanks to creative financing by the alleged leadership of the S.C. House of Representatives, South Carolina's woefully inadequate Medicaid system is now fully funded! Except, of course, they are proposing to continue the practice of funding recurring needs with non-recurring money - the kind of irresponsible action that has created the budget crisis we're now in.
By refinancing the state's tobacco settlement funds, House leaders Wilkins, Harrell and Quinn say they can fill the roughly $51 million hole in the Ways & Means Committee's Medicaid budget. They say it will raise approximately $45 million - though that still doesn't equal $51 million, but who's counting - and that this is all good, solid, recurring money that we can count on for years to come. No, wait a minute, upon further review, they admit that it does include $15 million in non-recurring funds, maybe.
The fact is, the alleged House leadership continues to play with funny money. Under their revised proposal, Medicaid would be funded with $10 million in unspecified eligibility changes (read: kicking people off the rolls), at least $45 million in one-time money (including $30 million they admitted to last week and $15 million from tobacco settlement refinancing), a $20 million tax increase on hospitals and by taking $20 million out of an underfunded Department of Education.
The time for Bandaids is over. This temporary, one-time solution will leave us with an even bigger problem next year. It is time for a stable, recurring, dedicated source of funding for health care, not more creative financing. The cigarette tax is the only solution that works, and the alleged leadership knows it.
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