Commentary by Andy Brack | About this time every year since 2009, we implore state lawmakers to look at South Carolina’s big picture and do the work that will make life better for most people – those whose taxes pay the government’s bills.
We’ve suggested 10 or 12 annual policy initiatives, or Palmetto Priorities. We urge elected officials to use them as a basis to do more than pass an annual budget and make bureaucratic changes that seem little more than moving the deck chairs of state government. Through the years, we’ve cut two priorities after legislators boosted the state’s cigarette tax to curb smoking and after they made changes to boost voter registration.
But too often, they failed to develop and pass common-sense policies on everything from improving education to making the taxing system fairer. Rather, they played culture wars. They spouted conservative talking points. They squabbled over abortion, guns, vouchers and the interests of special interests.
So for 2025, let’s update our annual Palmetto Priorities with a few new thoughts, particularly on education, climate and taxes.
EDUCATION: Spend $1 billion in new money by 2030 to build more schools and offer more scholarships. This year, the state is looking to make starting salaries for public school teachers to be $50,000. That’s solid, but is it enough to fix education? Are there enough scholarships to make sure there are a sufficient number of new teachers in the pipeline? Are there facilities where teachers can do what they’re trained for and get the most out of their students?
CLIMATE: Require state economic development investments to be linked to reducing carbon emissions. If a business wants to move into South Carolina and receive special tax breaks or any government help, it should have a low-carbon footprint. The state needs to develop significant climate strategies, from planting more trees and boosting alternative energy sources to limiting new infrastructure for businesses to concentrated areas.
GUN REFORM: Close the “Charleston loophole.” South Carolinians continue to wait for legislators to do their job to make reasonable gun reform after the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. They must extend the waiting period for purchasing a gun to at least five days to allow federal examiners more time for background checks. Failure to act has been just plain embarrassing. It’s time to get this job done to help reduce gun violence that is killing almost 1,000 South Carolinians a year. Lax gun laws are one reason why the state has the sixth-highest rate of gun violence in the nation.
POVERTY: Develop a broad anti-poverty agenda. Legislators should use budgets in new ways to fund reduction of endemic poverty in South Carolina, with strategies that include developing more jobs, applying more workforce training, improving education and making health care more accessible. One in five South Carolinians lives in poverty. We can do better by them.
TAX REFORM: Overhaul the state’s antiquated tax structure. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if South Carolina modernized its tax structure so sales taxes could go down, use taxes could be broader and the state could recover hundreds of millions of dollars in lost taxes due to special-interest sales tax exemptions? Lawmakers should stop being scared of broadening the base and lowering rates.
POLITICS: Innovate away from structures that encourage political gamesmanship. We’ve got to get rid of gerrymandering and one-party rule, both of which are continuing recipes for disaster.
There’s so much more that state lawmakers can do – from expanding Medicaid to offer access to health care to tens of thousands to focusing more on small businesses instead of trying to land big whales for jobs.
Maybe we can celebrate next year if state legislators think broader and act bigger in 2025.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@charlestoncitypaper.com.
A broad anti-poverty agenda must prioritize the education and support of the 492,509 K-12 students currently living in poverty. (SCDOE 2023-24) These children are our future workforce. Investing in their well-being now is an investment in the future well-being of our businesses, our communities and our state.
All the extra money they found and are paying consultants to figure out how to spend, should be put in state retirement. The system has been short for many years and have no intention of fixing it.
I will challenge you on the so called Charleston loophole as that part of the NICS system is about the Government misusing the system to prevent legal people from being denied their right to bear arms. We have all seen cases around the country where certain states drag their feet to approve people the right to own a gun. Did that person slip in and buy a gun, yes he did and the blame for that goes to the Federal Government. It was a system designed by the Government and signed into law by the Government. I believe as long as you have a CCW permit then you should be able to buy a gun anywhere in the country as to get one you are checked by the FBI, and in our case SLED. So the Government screws up and we all have to pay the price for it is what you are saying. How about Hunter Biden who just got pardoned for a firearms conviction. So after the system worked, it was squashed.
I agree! We can do better. We have seen how Gerrymandered results in little to no change.
Vote out those “same-old-Folks” who prosper by keeping people uneducated and poor as well as denying their rights and benefits of a truly representative government. I support your Palmetto Priorities.