Senate deadlock downs tax plans

AIKEN -The South Carolina Senate's snarled budget debate, running through a fifth day Wednesday, has killed both a Republican and a Democratic plan to rescue the state's deficit-battered public school system.

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Leaving members frustrated and facing more deadlock, the Senate chopped down an ambitious tax package offered by one of Aiken County's most powerful legislators, Democratic Sen. Tommy Moore.

That drew sharp criticism from another powerful Aiken legislator, Republican Sen. Greg Ryberg, about the Senate's inability to agree on a revenue plan. He said he didn't support Mr. Moore's revenue package but insisted the Senate must take action on a $5.1 billion spending plan.

"I don't know what the strategy is on either side of the aisle - Democrat or Republican," he said. "There doesn't seem to be one. There's no compromise coming forward and we aren't getting anything to vote on."

Defeated in a 30-15 vote late Wednesday, Mr. Moore's plan, which included a 2-cent sales tax increase and a $53 million tax burden on tobacco, would have raised $912.8 million. A huge part of that new revenue was earmarked for the state's education coffers and would have helped offset deep budget cuts that threaten up to 6,000 teachers' jobs across the state.

Senate Republicans hostile to any tax increase also killed a plan by one of their own late Tuesday night. The plan by Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, was much closer to demands by Gov. Mark Sanford that any sales tax increase be offset by a cut in income taxes.

Mr. Green's plan called for a 2-cent sales tax increase accompanied by a property tax reduction on personal vehicles and residential property.

Mr. Moore's package also included a series of income tax reductions, including elimination of state income taxes for anybody making less than $15,000 a year and a reduction of the income tax rate for small businesses from 7 percent to 5 percent.

Mr. Moore said he didn't lobby hard for his plan, which he claimed would have given public schools a permanent revenue source.

"It's not about partisan politics," he said. "If you're not willing to find new revenue for schools, you have to be able to say what you're going to cut. This is about an opportunity for South Carolina to say we will not put the full burden of this bad economy on the backs of school kids and teachers."

Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1394 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Thursday, May 15, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle