Tag: Income Taxes
Updated on February 23, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
SOUTH CAROLINA IS A LOW INCOME STATE — SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT South Carolina politicos sometimes claim that ours is a “low tax state” and that it has the “lowest taxes in that nation.” The claim is false. It confuses tax collections with tax rates – that is, total amounts sent to Columbia versus the proportion of …
WHY ARE PROPONENTS OF A GAS TAX HIKE RELYING ON SUCH BAD NUMBERS? The debate over roads and road funding, especially as it’s taken place inside the State House over the last two years, has been riddled with bogus statistics and implausible projections. Here are three of the worst examples of this trend: Tax cut …
Updated on April 14, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
LAWMAKERS’ ANSWER TO UNFAIRNESS: PUNISH MORE BUSINESSES, NOT FEWER Almost all forms of taxation raise the question of fairness. Why does one person pay a higher percentage of his or her income than another? Why is one industry given the advantage of a sales tax exemption, while another industry gets no such advantage? Why is …
Updated on October 30, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
WOULD THE FOUNDERS BE SATISFIED WITH JUST ‘SIMPLIFYING’ THE INCOME TAX CODE? Among the several tax-related bills we analyzed in our annual guide, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, is legislation purporting to simplify the state’s tax code and lower taxes on South Carolinians. H.3266 would reduce the state’s current six income tax brackets …
Updated on January 20, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
HERE’S WHY WE’RE LOSING: OUR TAXES ARE HIGHER We’ve leveled a lot of criticisms at the South Carolina Department of Commerce over the last several years, and will no doubt level more in the future. Presently, however, an excellent report the agency put together in 2010 deserves for more attention than it ever got when …
Updated on January 20, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
NOTHING WRONG WITH MYTHS … JUST DON’T REPEAT THEM AS FACT Since the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers have been blasting out emails that boast of the year’s accomplishments. Even allowing for politicians’ customary boasts, some of these claims are either misleading or flatly untrue. Here are a few: Taxes and Size of …
Updated on August 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE REASON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEOLOGY It’s a tale of two legislative sessions. In one state, lawmakers passed significant tax reform that lowers tax rates across the board, took a meaningful step towards school choice, and expanded Second Amendment rights. In another state, lawmakers talked a big game about government restructuring, reforming the …
Updated on December 4, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
TECHNICALLY, YES. IN EVERY OTHER WAY, NO. Twenty-four billion is a large number. No one has ever seen 24 billion dollars all together, so it’s difficult to imagine an amount of money that large. But apparently, according to South Carolina’s lawmakers, it takes this mind-bending amount of money to run the state for one year. …
As we’ve reported in the past, South Carolina’s tax rates are among the least competitive in the nation. Middle class families pay an inordinately high top rate, manufacturers are crippled by the state’s property tax (one of the highest in the nation), and our state’s byzantine system of exemptions keeps sales tax artificially high. And …
WELL, WHICH IS IT? Despite lawmakers’ disingenuous claims that South Carolina has some of the “lowest taxes in the nation,” the truth is that South Carolina taxpayers and businesses pay far too much to the state. The principle is simple: Taxes should be low and equitable, and South Carolina’s tax structure, for the most part, is neither. …
Tag: Income Taxes
S.C. Is a ‘Low Tax State,’ Right? Wrong.
Updated on February 23, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
SOUTH CAROLINA IS A LOW INCOME STATE — SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT South Carolina politicos sometimes claim that ours is a “low tax state” and that it has the “lowest taxes in that nation.” The claim is false. It confuses tax collections with tax rates – that is, total amounts sent to Columbia versus the proportion of …
Category: Taxes & Regulation Tags: High Taxes, Income Taxes, Sales Taxes
Fuzzy Math: The Gas Tax Debate’s Bad Numbers
Updated on May 6, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
WHY ARE PROPONENTS OF A GAS TAX HIKE RELYING ON SUCH BAD NUMBERS? The debate over roads and road funding, especially as it’s taken place inside the State House over the last two years, has been riddled with bogus statistics and implausible projections. Here are three of the worst examples of this trend: Tax cut …
Category: Research Tags: Income Taxes
A Crackdown on Accommodations Tax “Evaders”
Updated on April 14, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
LAWMAKERS’ ANSWER TO UNFAIRNESS: PUNISH MORE BUSINESSES, NOT FEWER Almost all forms of taxation raise the question of fairness. Why does one person pay a higher percentage of his or her income than another? Why is one industry given the advantage of a sales tax exemption, while another industry gets no such advantage? Why is …
Category: Commentary, Taxes & Regulation Tags: Income Taxes
What Would the Founders Do about Our Income Tax?
Updated on October 30, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
WOULD THE FOUNDERS BE SATISFIED WITH JUST ‘SIMPLIFYING’ THE INCOME TAX CODE? Among the several tax-related bills we analyzed in our annual guide, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, is legislation purporting to simplify the state’s tax code and lower taxes on South Carolinians. H.3266 would reduce the state’s current six income tax brackets …
Category: Commentary, Limited Government, Taxes & Regulation Tags: Founders, Income Taxes, SC Tax Code, WWFD
South Carolina’s Uncompetitive Income Tax
Updated on January 20, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
HERE’S WHY WE’RE LOSING: OUR TAXES ARE HIGHER We’ve leveled a lot of criticisms at the South Carolina Department of Commerce over the last several years, and will no doubt level more in the future. Presently, however, an excellent report the agency put together in 2010 deserves for more attention than it ever got when …
Category: Commentary, Research Tags: Corporate Taxes, Economic Incentives, High Taxes, Income Taxes
S.C. Politicians’ Talking Points: Myths vs. Facts
Updated on January 20, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
NOTHING WRONG WITH MYTHS … JUST DON’T REPEAT THEM AS FACT Since the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers have been blasting out emails that boast of the year’s accomplishments. Even allowing for politicians’ customary boasts, some of these claims are either misleading or flatly untrue. Here are a few: Taxes and Size of …
Category: Commentary, Research Tags: Corporate Taxes, Economic Incentives, Income Taxes
Reforms Pass in North Carolina … But Not Here
Updated on August 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE REASON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEOLOGY It’s a tale of two legislative sessions. In one state, lawmakers passed significant tax reform that lowers tax rates across the board, took a meaningful step towards school choice, and expanded Second Amendment rights. In another state, lawmakers talked a big game about government restructuring, reforming the …
Category: Commentary, Education, Taxes & Regulation Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Corporate Taxes, Educational Performance, Income Taxes, K-12 education, Reform agenda, Sales Taxes, School Choice
Does S.C. “Live within Its Means”?
Updated on December 4, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
TECHNICALLY, YES. IN EVERY OTHER WAY, NO. Twenty-four billion is a large number. No one has ever seen 24 billion dollars all together, so it’s difficult to imagine an amount of money that large. But apparently, according to South Carolina’s lawmakers, it takes this mind-bending amount of money to run the state for one year. …
Category: Budget, Commentary Tags: Debt Barrier, Income Taxes, Sales Taxes
The House Tax Plan: True Reform or Something Else?
Updated on May 23, 2012 by South Carolina Policy Council
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As we’ve reported in the past, South Carolina’s tax rates are among the least competitive in the nation. Middle class families pay an inordinately high top rate, manufacturers are crippled by the state’s property tax (one of the highest in the nation), and our state’s byzantine system of exemptions keeps sales tax artificially high. And …
Category: Research Tags: Corporate Taxes, Income Taxes, Property Taxes, Sales Taxes
A Tale of Two Tax Proposals
Updated on April 16, 2015 by South Carolina Policy Council
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WELL, WHICH IS IT? Despite lawmakers’ disingenuous claims that South Carolina has some of the “lowest taxes in the nation,” the truth is that South Carolina taxpayers and businesses pay far too much to the state. The principle is simple: Taxes should be low and equitable, and South Carolina’s tax structure, for the most part, is neither. …
Category: Taxes & Regulation Tags: Corporate Taxes, Income Taxes, Sales Taxes