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Lawmakers need to cut the shenanigans
Published Monday, July 14, 2008
Wouldn’t it be nice if members of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the governor could play nice just for a couple of days — even once in a while?
The latest schoolyard standoff between the adult-aged but intellectually toddler group is on the Medicaid budget.
No surprise there. Funding Medicaid has prompted feuds for years. Unfortunately, all of the feuding does little to streamline the problem, let alone fix it.
Gov. Haley Barbour wants lawmakers to sign off on a restructuring of hospital taxes that would help fund the $90 million gap between the proposed Medicaid’s financial need and what the state has allocated for it.
House leaders have dug in their heels insisting that instead of the hospital tax, Barbour buckle and agree not to veto a proposed cigarette tax.
Barbour vows he won’t budge; instead he has proposed a list of $375 million in cuts he plans.
So it’s a battle of cigarette taxes vs. hospital taxes.
Here’s a novel plan: do both.
If Mississippi really wants to jump ahead, let’s do both and use the “excess” money that’s created to promote healthier living programs or put in a rainy day fund for next year’s Medicaid funding battle.
Or, better yet, let’s get really crazy. If we’re really concerned about the health of residents, we need to tax the heck out of all things that are bad for citizens.
We could call it the Mississippi Morals and Health Act of 2008.
In addition to cigarette taxes, we should also tax the stew out of any alcoholic beverages sold within 30 miles of the Capitol — only levied, however, when the Legislature is in session.
Scaring elderly and poor folks by making them think their healthcare may be in jeopardy?
Why that’ll be a felony under the new law.
Come on lawmakers. We pay you to represent us, not to entertain us with squabbling.
Comments
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 7:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
While doing both sounds like a nice compromise, why don't we just expect our elected officials(guv) to do what is really best for all of our state( cig tax) and not what is best for his stinking f------ cronies in the tabacco business........
Dont worry, my alarm clock just went off..I am awake now and I realize that was just a dream......It could only happen in my dreams.....
Posted by reader (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The hospitals paid this tax for 12 years without complaining, in fact they asked for it because they get $6 back for every $1 they pay. That's a heck of a deal. So now the House Leadership says, "Let's raise the tobacco tax so the hospitals don't even have the pay the $1." That makes NO sense to me. Governor Barbour says his Tax Study Commission has already said they will recommend a tobacco tax increase, and he will not fight it. There are many needs out there in our State. Why would we use the proceeds of a tobacco tax to pay the hospital's taxes for them???
Posted by observer (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
For heaven's sake, don't tax hospitals! While I've never before found myself in agreement with redusmfan I must say taxing both tobacco and alcohol is the best idea yet - - We'd be the richest state in the union! Of course it might start a rebirth of the moonshine industry that was once so prevalent in these parts, but the governor can just bring on the revenuers!
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
reader,
He has been in the back pocket of tabacco since he was elected. I helped elect him because he was the lesser of the evils we had to vote for here in Mississippi. But it just makes me sick to see him stand up for tabacco while so many people are dying from it every day right here in this state.
I know it is a choice, but going to the hospital is not a choice. So many times, when we are sent to the hospital it is not a choice at all. Then, while we are there with no real choice, this tax will be passed on to us without any say at all. At least the tabacco tax has people that can stop and say" I do not want to pay the tax so I can not buy the product" This is why I am so much in favor of a tax with a choice.
Understand what I am trying to say?
Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Compromise is not always the answer.....ya know. In fact, compromising with an illogical or corrupt idea panders to it, and provides a path for bad government or bad ideas to advance when they should not. The standing assumption that compromise is best dilutes good thinking for an arbitrary short-cut. It rewards corruption. In fact the suggestion is -- what did you call it -- intellectually toddler.
Cigarette smokers drive up the cost of health care for everyone -- insurance premiums, Medicare and Medicaid, etc. Second-hand smoke injures innocent bystanders, and those folks who do the right thing and don't smoke should not be taxed for the benefits of smokers saving a few bucks on tax.
I would not recommend putting cigarette smokers in jail the way some people think we should when people have a substance self-abuse problem. BUT THEY CAN PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE.
And the idea to pass two taxes just to have something to hand the tobacco industry is insane. Health care costs are rising too fast. Don't tax that area.
Posted by EnKiKur (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 11:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What branch of the eugenics movement do you belong to Yeahuhuh? I want to join it.
Poor people are the primary cause of the need for medicare. Let's tax poor people since they are the ones using medicare. Let's propose a tax of 35% on every dollar a poor person doesn't earn above the poverty line. If they don't pay let's put them in debtor's prison and rent them out to the medical industry as orderlies, groundskeepers, and subjects for experiments. It is the poor people who are the problem, whether they are smokers or not. Let's address the real problem. Let's make them pay their fair share!
Posted by reader (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
redusmfan,
First off it's tobacco, not tabacco. We will have a tobacco tax, probably by the end of the year. The question is, do we want to pay the hospital's taxes for them. They asked for this, so they can get the 6 for 1 match. Why would we pay their taxes for them? The House Democrats have tried to raise the tobacco tax 19 times in the past 5 years. They have tried to dedicate the proceeds to many good causes....burn center, trauma care ect. Paying the hospitals match on a 6 to 1 match is by far the worst idea ever.
Posted by destiny (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I repeat, investigate the 'humongus' waste of the hospitals and the inexcusable greed of the doctors office and you will have no need to raise taxes on anything.
Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 2:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
EnKik, I am afraid your idea won't qualify you for the eugenics club.
There is a fine line between extreme sarcasm and insane rants, and anybody that can't toe the line without going over it is deemed unfit to manipulate the evolutionary process --- he,he! We are such snobs....
Posted by EnKiKur (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 5:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, what if we let the rich buy the debts of the poor and hold the poor as collateral until the middle class can buy their freedom? Is that a less insane idea?
Posted by EnKiKur (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Or, why don't the Mississippi Democrats and Republicans go borrow the money from IndyMac Bank? Or maybe the State has some of those high yield Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds they can sell till they get this tax business worked out. Heck, why doesn't the state just go ahead and run off some Mississippi Reserve Dollars and use those to pay Medicare bills with? That would be the least expensive thing to do and wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything. If the US Congress can do it, why not Mississippi?
Posted by EnKiKur (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 5:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
That is probably the best idea of all...Mississippi Reserve Notes redeemable in corn bread, sweet potatoes, milk and fatback. Those items are likely to be in very high demand shortly so the Mississippi Dollar ought to open strongly against the US Dollar.
Posted by jdmcbth (anonymous) on July 15, 2008 at 9:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Enkikur, get your facts straight, it is Medicaid, not Medicare. Medicare is from the US government for retired persons who have paid into this fund for 30 plus years. Medicaid comes from the state. The governor doesn't want the tobacco tax because he was a lobbiest for the tobacco companies, he doesn't want to offend his friends. I guess once he leaves office he wants to make sure he has a job.
Posted by reader (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 8:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
jdmcbth,
That is so ridiculous. The Governor has already said he expects to sign a tobacco tax into law within the next 8 months, do you not read the papers or watch the news???? I think the Governor's employment after he leaves office is definitely not an issue. Also people do not pay in to a Medicare fund. As I mentioned earlier, people should have to pass a test before they can post on here.
Posted by EnKiKur (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If the people don't pay into Medicare and Medicaid, where does the funding come from reader? Genies? Elves? Is it conjured up by black-robed priests in some dank dark temple?
OH, I see. Medicaid comes from the State. That explains where the money comes from.
Posted by reader (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
EnKiKur,
We all pay into it through our taxes, but it was insinuated in an earlier post that there was a Medicare fund that people pay into. Medicaid comes from the State, but the Federal Government matches the State dollars with a 4 to 1 match.
Posted by jdmcbth (anonymous) on July 17, 2008 at 2:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Reader
Yes I do read the paper and watch the news, the govenor can say anything until he signs the bill I don't believe it. If he plans to sign the bill why wait 8 months.
What test have you passed, the test to be ignorant or impolite. The last time I read the constitution, all people have the freedom of the press, are able to speak freely and express themselves.We all pay into to Social Security each time we recieve our pay checks. I was just correcting Enkikur for the rude comment that was made, we also pay into Medicaid. Most people recieving Medicare are only recieving what they have put into to Social Security. Not the case with Medicaid.
Posted by reader (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am aware of free speech, but with that freedom (as with others) comes responsibility. People just come on this site and say anything about anyone. If I have said something you consider ignorant, please point it out.
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