Haley Barbour vetoes tax bill shift from groceries to cigarettes

[TacticalPeek]

Barbour vetoes tax bill
From staff, wire reports

JACKSON - Gov. Haley Barbour vetoed a bill Wednesday that would phase out taxes on groceries and increase them on cigarettes, calling it "ill-conceived, barely researched, poorly timed and passed in great haste."

snip

The bill was proposed by Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, a fellow Republican. It zipped through the state Senate and state House in the first week and a half of the 2006 session.

A key lawmaker said Barbour is using inaccurate figures to show how phasing out the grocery tax would affect towns and cities.

"Bless his heart, he doesn't mean to mislead anybody, but his figures are just wrong," said state Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory.

more
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060119/NEWS01/601190333/1002


also
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/13656286.htm


Thanks, Governor Pissant

:grr:

[NorthernSpy]

1. simply put, Barbour is anti-working class

Working class people must spend a very large portion of their income on necessities like food. Taxing such basic needs exploits the poor.

The people who own this lousy system -- the rich and their corporations -- are the ones who should pay for its upkeep. We all know that things are organized and run to benefit them and not us, so they should pay -- not us.

[mmonk]

2. Which would provide more revenue?

It would seem to be a food tax.

[Dulcinea]

9. Exactly.

Everyone eats. Not everyone smokes.

[pinerow]

3. Bless his heart...?

What the hell kind of statement is that for a so-called Democrat to make about one of the most ignorant men on the planet...:wtf:

[sendero]

5. In the south...

... "Bless his heart" or "bless her heart" is an insult wrapped in a nice wrapper. FYI

[QC]

6. Yes, it's one of the worst things you can say to/about someone.

It's right up there with "the poor thing."

[pinerow]

8. 'scuse me..I've lived in the South for quite some time...

nothing I ever recall hearing...then again...it could be the vapors...lol

[Bake]

4. A lot of poor people smoke

So the proposed tax increase would hit them disproportionately hard too.

Of course, the Smoke Nazis here will say they should quit for their own good. As for me, I'm putting on my flame-retardant suit.

Bake

[Sgent]

7. I have a few thoughts on this

First -- it should have (IMHO) passed.

That said, there were some problems that needed to be addressed, and very well might be by the end of the session.

1) Local governments receive a large amount of their revenue from sales tax -- the state collects 7%, then rebates about half of that back to the community where it was collected from. The effects of this change on the local communities wasn't adequately studied.

2) This was a hidden tax increase, because the cigarette tax went into effect immediately, but the discount on groceries didn't go fully into effect for years.

I personally think we need to raise taxes (esp income) in this state to fully fund higher education and mental health facilities. That being said, the democratic legislature who passed it was somewhat disingenuous in stating that it was revenue neutral.

Make no mistake -- that "complement" to Haley from the D was a backhanded slap.