H.4216 would set South Carolina’s individual income tax—currently at 6.2%—on a path to 0%. No state has eliminated its income tax in 45 years, but H.4216 would set South Carolina on the road to repeal. H.4216 would also shift South Carolina to a federal AGI-based income tax calculation.  Flattening tax rates is the clear trend

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

1. What is actually in H.4216, the Republican Tax Cut Plan? H.4216 is a conservative-sponsored plan to cut the top current South Carolina individual income tax rate from 6.2% to 5.39%, then on down to 1.99% if the economy stays healthy.   2. Who will benefit from the Tax Cut Plan? Everyone will benefit from the

This commentary by Palmetto Promise board chair Phil Hughes was originally published in the Post and Courier. From stem to stern, South Carolina’s lawsuit system is broken — and anyone who’s run a small business, owned a restaurant that offered alcohol or driven a truck knows it. Sky-high insurance rates, nuclear verdicts and the chilling

In 2025, live-streaming is a fact of life. Churches, political parties, sporting events, legislative bodies, and more are easily accessible online in realtime and for replay after the fact. But school boards across South Carolina still lag behind. That’s a huge problem. South Carolina citizens should have easy online access to watch their elected representatives

South Carolina’s electricity market is at a crossroads. Composed of utilities operating under a vertically integrated model with limited competition, the state faces growing pressure to reduce costs, find new generation, and ensure long-term grid reliability. While efforts like the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) have introduced modest reforms among a subset of utilities in

This column by Palmetto Promise President & CEO Wendy Damron was originally published in the Daily Signal. South Carolina’s school choice program faced a crushing setback when the state’s Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional after hundreds of students had already started classes at new schools. However, a grassroots response has emerged to help families affected by the

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

For South Carolina schools and school districts, one of the most important goals is to do well on the SC School Report Card. This state school report card is built to evaluate schools based on their standardized test performance, teacher qualifications, safety, awards, parent involvement, and other factors. The Report Card aims to inspire schools

At Palmetto Promise, we believe in the power of ideas backed by strong policy research. That belief was put to the test and proven true when our July 2024 report, Small Modular Reactors: An Answer to South Carolina’s Energy Crisis, helped lay the groundwork for a major bipartisan breakthrough in Columbia.  In recent months, both