FreedomWorks Celebrates Victory for South Carolina Taxpayers

Governor Mark Sanford saved taxpayers in South Carolina from bearing the burden of government overspending when he vetoed a program which would have increased cigarette taxes by 50 cents per pack.

FreedomWorks activists in South Carolina sent thousands of emails, letters and faxes to the legislature and the governor’s office in opposition to the cigarette tax.

The proposed tax increase was estimated to raise $160 million to offset a proposed oversized government health care program. Increases in cigarette taxes are regressive, and impose an unfair and selective burden on hard-working Americans.

The new tax plan would have created a permanent entitlement program that would be based on an unstable and shrinking source of revenue. Future cost increases in the program and declines in cigarette tax collections would need to be funded through additional, undetermined tax hikes.

South Carolina politicians need to understand how to live within their means and recognize that the government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented:

“Instead of figuring out new ways to accumulate funds, South Carolina legislators should be focusing on more efficient ways to spend the money they already have. Governor Sanford is setting a good example of what it means to use limited-government values and fiscal responsibility to remain inside of a budget, instead of hiking taxes.”

The House later sustained Governor Sanford’s veto.