NORTH CAROLINA — Picking up a prescription at the pharmacy could soon take more out of your wallet if a proposed tax goes through.
It's not what people like Tommie Mabe want to hear. She buys expensive heart medicine on a fixed income.
"It'd make it a little bit harder, I'll tell you that," Mabe said.
A tax reform plan proposed by Sen. Bob Rucho lists 130 potentially taxable goods and services, and one of those is prescription drugs.
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Under the proposal, a 6.5 percent tax would apply to prescriptions. If you have prescriptions that cost about $50, the tax would add about an extra $3.37.
"Talking about lowering corporate and personal income taxes and then adding a tax on prescription medicines is about the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time," said pharmacist Dave Marley, CEO of Marley Drug.
Marley said he tries to keep his prices low and can't fathom government possibly forcing customers to pay more.
"You've got medicines that people need that are life-saving. This is not about having a choice to make this purchase or not. These people have to buy this medicine," Marley said.
Marley guessed about 60 percent of his customers do not have insurance and he said that the tax reform would hurt them most.
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