Breaking Down the One Big, Beautiful Bill: Here’s What Just Passed

Tax & Budget
Blog · July 7, 2025

After long weeks of deliberation, President Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) finally passed the US House on July 3, 2025, in a 217-214 vote. Just days prior, the Senate passed it with the final deciding vote cast by Vice President Vance. This tight victory for Trump marks the penultimate step toward his self-imposed July

Protect Local Charities

Tax & Budget
Blog · June 20, 2025

This op ed was originally published in FitsNews. At Palmetto Promise Institute, we believe the best solutions don’t come from Washington — they come from communities. That’s why we were alarmed to see the U.S. House propose a steep tax hike on private foundations, raising the current 1.39% excise tax on investment income to as

Rating South Carolina: Pensions, Elections, & Roads. Oh my!

Quality of Life
Blog · June 19, 2025

At Palmetto Promise Institute, we are big on ratings and rankings. If done properly, a grade or score in a policy area can help a state know where it stands on freedom issues and how efficiently and effectively that state spends taxpayer dollars. Comparisons to neighboring states can be particularly useful. Trusted national organizations produce

Economic Impact Analysis: House Republicans’ Income Tax Plan Will Boost SC Economy

Tax & Budget
Blog · May 6, 2025

Palmetto Promise Institute, in collaboration with The Buckeye Institute, has conducted an economic impact study on the newly amended H.4216, a proposal by the state’s Republicans leaders to move South Carolina’s highest-in-the-southeast income tax to two tiered rate of 5.39% and 1.99%, based on Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Our findings show how South Carolina’s economy

Money is Stampeding into Florida But Trickling into South Carolina…Palmetto State Must Cut Income Tax to Compete

Tax & Budget
Blog · April 23, 2025

Over ten years ago, Travis Brown wrote How Money Walks: How $2 trillion Moved Between States, and Why it Matters. In the foreword, legendary economist Dr. Art Laffer summarized it as a study of “the migration of working wealth as a direct result of personal income tax rates…”  Based on IRS tax return data, Brown

RELEASE: Passage of Tax Bill to Grow SC GDP by a Quarter Billion Dollars in First Year Alone

Tax & Budget
Blog · April 10, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COLUMBIA, SC — A new economic impact study by the Palmetto Promise Institute and the Buckeye Institute predicts that passage of the Republican income tax bill (H.4216) could expand South Carolina’s economy dramatically.   According to Zachary D. Cady, Associate Economist at the Buckeye Institute’s Economic Research Center, analysis of the bill found