CCSD's McGinley Wants Extension of Tax to Groceries

Maudlin complaining about not being able to put a sales-tax extension on the ballot in 2014 without special dispensation is one thing; planning that the tax will extend to local food shopping is another.

When South Carolina was a really poor state (not so long ago for those of us over 50), the sales tax applied to everything that moved and some things that didn't. Money to run the state had to come from somewhere. That included a tax on groceries and a tax on prescriptions! Talk about regressive! Now well-heeled outsiders like Michael Bobby, Chief Financial Officer of the Charleston County School District, and his boss, Superintendent Nancy McGinley, have a bright idea: bring back a tax on groceries. To hell with the poor.

Strangely enough, or maybe not, this push from CCSD administrators has been undertaken without the CCSD School Board's approval--just the recommendation of a committee of the Board, members selected by you-know-who. They're telling us poor taxpayers that 30 percent of the sales tax revenue comes from tourists.

Well, if that is true, it won't be for long. Have you ever seen long lines of tourists standing in line at the grocery checkout? I thought not.