Amendment Two: $10 for trauma care?

ATLANTA – Is it worth paying a $10 fee to help fund trauma care in Georgia?

Voters on Nov. 2 will have a chance to decide whether to amend the state’s constitution. The proposed amendment reads: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to impose an annual $10.00 trauma charge on certain passenger motor vehicles in this state for the purposes of funding trauma care?”

The proposed amendment is one of five on the ballot.

“Because our state only has four (Level 1 Trauma Centers), deaths from traumatic injuries are 20 percent higher in Georgia than the national average,” state Rep. Penny Houston, R-Nashville, said in an op-ed. “This simple $10 fee will generate $80 million a year and go directly toward improving our statewide trauma care system.”

Houston added: “The revenues created by the fee will be dedicated to the trauma care trust fund and used solely for the improvement of our state’s trauma care network.”

While it may seem like a small price to pay for trauma care, some feel that now is not the time for a tax of any kind – no matter how small.

“Though it is only $10, this is the latest tax on hardworking Georgians who are already overtaxed at all levels of government in the midst of tough economic times,” WMAZ-TV quoted the Libertarian Party as saying.