“We should not expect the state to appear in the guise of an extravagant good fairy at christening, a loquacious companion at every stage of life’s journey and the unknown mourner at every funeral.” —Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in
Shortly after Palmetto Promise Institute was born, we were approached by former state Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor about weighing in on tax policy. He had seen the ill effects of our broken-down tax system and wanted aggressive reform. With Taylor’s generous support, we released comprehensive studies by pre-eminent South Carolina economist Dr. Rebecca Gunnlauggsson
In 2015, South Carolina’s Office of the State Treasurer released a report on the health of the state employee retirement system entitled “The Pothole that you can’t see.” In this examination of our state’s pension system, the numbers were shocking. According to the report, as of 2015, the state retirement system’s unfunded liability stood at
Palmetto Promise Institute’s new research report Achieving Prosperity, Stability, & Fairness: Essential South Carolina Tax Reforms lays out the tax code changes that state legislators would be wise to prioritize in the 2025-26 legislative session. INTRODUCTION Palmetto Promise Institute has produced two major reports assessing the competitiveness and fairness of the South Carolina tax code (2014;
This op ed by Palmetto Promise Senior Fellow Dr. Oran Smith was originally published in the National Review, July 23, 2024. Because South Carolina wisely resisted total lockdown during Covid, coming out of the pandemic, we were in a good position. But on fiscal issues, state leaders had been content to kick the can down
Since 2017, Palmetto Promise Institute has been sounding the alarm that our South Carolina tax code is unfair, uncompetitive and imbalanced. In 2019, we took our claims to the next level by commissioning and releasing an econometric tax study by the foremost independent economist in South Carolina, Dr. Rebecca Gunnlaugsson. Turns out we were right!
Now that the General Assembly has adjourned sine die, we are taking a look back at the 23 policies Palmetto Promise proposed in the 2023-24 Palmetto Freedom Agenda at the beginning of the legislative session. Did our Freedom Agenda policies make it into law? Or, at the very least, did they start a conversation that future General Assemblies
Palmetto Promise Institute remains firm in our belief that when the Conference Committee working on the 2024-25 state budget faces the choice between cutting the state individual income tax rate and rebating a portion of the property tax, it should pick a permanent reduction in the individual income tax. This is looking more doable with
As you read these words, a Conference Committee of the South Carolina Senate and House has been tasked with hammering out a state budget for the year that begins on July 1, 2024. There are instances where the House and Senate versions differ, and there are 353 pages of “provisos,” the instructions that the legislature
