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
At Palmetto Promise, we are always reluctant to question any move by the South Carolina General Assembly to cut taxes or flatten tax rates. So, we greet with joy the fact that in the wake of an estimated $500-$600 million state revenue surplus that has built up since 2020, the Senate and the House are
Since he was elected to the South Carolina Senate in 2012, Senator Sean Bennett has been a strong, steady voice for comprehensive tax reform. Bennett is known for taking to the well of the Senate and laying out his very specific concerns about how our current tax code is unfair, unstable and uncompetitive. Two of
Earlier this year, Palmetto Promise Institute published our Palmetto Freedom Agenda, 23 policies to make South Carolina an even better place to live, work, and raise a family. Today I am pleased to deliver to you a “beta” edition of Fiscal Facts 2023: Data to Support the Palmetto Promise Freedom Agenda. This publication is chock-full
In our Palmetto Playbook, we decided to take on fiscal policy more aggressively. After all, what policy area is more crucial to the future of South Carolina than how the state handles its money? Since then, we have been writing about fiscal responsibility regularly. Thanks for your positive response! Our Playbook look back at state
During its 2021-22 session, the South Carolina General Assembly passed a cut in the personal income tax rate. Whew! Finally, the highest marginal personal income tax rate in the South (7%), which has never been cut since its adoption in 1959, is headed for extinction. That’s great news. It was also good to see the