Tennessee legislature passes welfare drug-testing bill

[Gina]

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee legislature approved a bill today that will require new welfare applicants to undergo drug testing if suspicions of drug abuse arise in a new applicant-screening process to be implemented by the state.

The bill, on its way to the governor, is a watered-down version of the original that would have required drug testing of all recipients of the state’s basic welfare program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The state attorney general said that would violate federal law, and the federal government pays most of TANF’s costs.

Steaming toward a targeted adjournment of its 2012 session, the legislature also moved toward repeal of the state’s gift tax, which generated about $16 million a year in state revenue. Supporters argued that with the repeal of the state’s inheritance tax, the gift tax is no longer needed because it was designed to tax the transfer of wealth prior to death.

The Senate passed the gift-tax repeal Monday, and the House did today, but the House made the repeal retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year while the Senate version would go into effect Oct. 1. The two chambers are expected to work out a compromise.

Wow! 

[Eupher]

A step in the right direction, but the Gestapo known as the feds apparently have a f'n law that prohibits testing of all of these critters, regardless if they're new or they've been sucking off the public teat for some time.

Let's see how many welfare recipients they actually send for testing before we go all ga-ga about it.

[Gina]

what about the inheritance tax?

[Eupher]

what about the inheritance tax?

any repeal of punitive taxes such as the death tax or "gift" tax is a good thing, IMHO.

[CG6468]

any repeal of punitive taxes such as the death tax or "gift" tax is a good thing, IMHO.

That's why blammo hates any tax repeal.

[Eupher]

That's why blammo hates any tax repeal.

so does Congress.