A "Taxing" Day

Thursday turned out to be a "taxing" day. In the Senate we approved Senate Bill 88 which is Senator Glover's and the Governor's bill to reduce the sales and use tax on groceries by another penny. The vote was 32 yeas, 1 nay and 2 non voting. I was among the yeas even though I cannot get comfortable with lowering revenue with the food tax and then turning around and raising revenue with the Tobacco tax.

While on the Governor's tobacco tax it passed out of the House with 75 yeas and 24 nays. Passage required a 3/4's vote so it passed with exactly the number of votes needed. An interesting fact about the vote is that 22 of the 24 nays were republican Representatives. The Tobacco tax should now be sent to the Senate. While I don't know which committee it will be assigned to I expect it to be assigned to the Revenue and Tax Committee - which I serve on. The Revenue and Tax Committee has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday. I would not be surprised for it to be brought up for discussion and passage out of committee. I have not visited with other committee members but I imagine the vote might be close. I look forward to the discussion.