BRIEF: Backing the USSR

Staff reports  |  State Rep. Jim Merrill (R-Daniel Island) got in the last word and a big laugh as the House dismissed on Wednesday.

Merrill introduced an amendment to another bill that would change the name of a state budget fund. He proposed changing the Universal Service Fund, “USF,” which is used on land-line telecommunications to help smaller companies compete with commercial giants.

Merrill called for its moniker to be changed to the “Universal Super-Secret Remittance” tax. Or, in Merrill’s tongue-in-cheek words, “the U-S-S-R tax.”