By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | Is South Carolina’s sales tax holiday a poor tax policy?
That’s the claim from a new report by the national tax policy think tank Tax Foundation, which calls such state holidays “gimmicks” that “distract policymakers and taxpayers from genuine, permanent tax relief.”
But before you get too excited about buying that new laptop or back-to-school clothes, the report says sales tax holidays fail to promote economic growth, discriminate arbitrarily among products, can mislead consumers about savings, cause costly complexity and instability, and are not an effective means of relief for low-income consumers.
“If policymakers want to save money for consumers, then they should cut the sales tax rate year-round,” the report said.
South Carolina has the 17th highest sales tax in the nation at 6 percent. Tennessee, which has no income tax, has the highest at 9.46 percent.
In other recent news:
Public input sought. The S.C. House Legislative Oversight Committee is seeking public input on five agencies being studied by the committee. Those agencies are the: Aeronautics Commission; Department of Corrections; Department of Mental Health; Department of Motor Vehicles; and the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School.
The committee is asking the public to fill out a survey about the agencies. The survey seeks information on public thoughts on the agencies’ online presence. Click here to participate in the survey. Deadline to participate in the survey is Aug. 20.
S.C. among least prepared for emergency. Gov. Henry McMaster and a few other preparedness experts will likely disagree with a new report from a fuel additives company that says South Carolina is among the bottom 20 states prepared for a natural disaster.
Gold Eagle ranked South Carolina 37th from the top. Iowa was ranked first for its natural disaster preparedness. Texas was ranked last in the report. Rankings are based on number of disasters, funding, response and infrastructure.
For the birds (and everyone else). Audubon South Carolina’s Silver Bluff Sanctuary in Aiken County is now permanently protected by a conservation easement, thanks in part to an $807,000 grant from the S.C. Conservation Bank and a donation by the National Audubon Society. The legal easement is held by the Lowcountry Land Trust in partnership with the Aiken Land Conservancy. Silver Bluff is free and open to the public, and features 3,300 acres with 20 miles of public trails with stunning Savannah River views. More information.
Potholes wreck government vehicles, too. Every person who has felt the need to apologize to his or her car after hitting a big pothole knows the collapsed asphalt can do real damage. In the second quarter of this year, the South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund paid nearly $783,000 to government agencies for claims relating to potholes. Read more here.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!