By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The General Assembly’s 2017 legislative session is sure to be remembered for a long time as a wild ride.
Two things stand out. First, who in the world would have thought the Republican-led legislature would have given millions of dollars in tax relief to working people in South Carolina in a bill to hike taxes to fix roads? Most of the time, tax breaks go to the rich.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s some high-fiving going on in Columbia as state lawmakers are pushing through measures to raise the gas tax and fix the state employees’ pension system.
Unfortunately, these are solutions for problems of the legislature’s own making. Had the General Assembly done its job years ago, legislators wouldn’t have to be raising taxes to fix crumbling, pot-holed roads. They wouldn’t have to be charging taxpayers and state employees more to make up for dumb losses to the state’s pension fund.
Fred Sales, James Island: “On the gas tax for roads: The proposal is a start, but given 30 years of the same gas tax, plus inflation, we need a real kick start. At minimum, an increase of 10 cents and additional hikes until it gets in line.” Also, a letter from George Graf on mentoring.
David Brown: In my opinion, it is difficult to find a more perfect example than the need to fund repair of our roads via the gas tax option rather than through the general revenue option. The reasoning unfolds likes this: The roads need fixing.
“Folks, the only bully in the Statehouse chamber Wednesday night was Nikki Haley. Not a real contender in the 2016 presidential race, she must just have needed to create some kind of false bogeyman to feel warm and cuddly about herself.”
JAN. 19, 2015 | If a bill being pushed to add a seventh penny of state sales tax to fix roads ends up making it through the legislature, the state would suffer mightily.
Simply put, it’s a dumb idea. Not only would it make the Palmetto State less competitive, but it would catapult South Carolina into having the highest sales tax rate in the Southeast and the second highest in the nation! Imagine an economic recruiter trying to explain that to a prospect who wants to locate here.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
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