We’ve all noticed those fees and taxes tacked on to our monthly cell phone bills, but recently some South Carolina lawmakers are proposing legislation that could add on even more fees to help pay for the services provided by land lines, a proposed law that some major wireless carriers do not favor.

The fees on your cell phone statement are surprisingly not for the wireless carriers, but instead support public programs. One in particular, the Universal Service Fund which was created in 1997, was required by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure everyone in the country has affordable and equal telecommunication services.

Right now some major wireless carriers are fighting this bill to prevent consumers from paying about 1.1 percent more on their bills. They argue the proposed law would make the over 4 million cell phone users in South Carolina pay into a program that does not benefit them.

Michelle Robinson, VP of Government Affairs for Verizon Wireless said, “…Without any proof that they need the money and without any evidence they’re going to put the money toward its intended purpose, they would like to see 4 and half million South Carolinians, nearly the whole population of the state, pay more than they’re already paying – to us that’s not fair.”

However, State Senator Luke Rankin, R-Horry County, a sponsor of the bill, said the fees are not exactly taxes, but rather fund for a dated system, that serves and benefits everyone is the state. Rankin said without land lines, wireless calls would not exist.

For the full article click the link below:

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/28066904/sc-lawmakers-proposed-tax-for-cell-phone-users

South Carolina’s deteriorating roads could be free of potholes, its aging bridges rehabilitated.

And it could be done without new taxes or an increase in the gas tax.

 Rather, the hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to keep roadways from deteriorating further would come from casinos along the Grand Strand in Myrtle Beach and legalizing betting on horse races in other parts of the state.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford and other Democrats are offering that as an alternative to Gov. Nikki Haley’s and Republican lawmakers’ transportation plans.

“In order to pay for South Carolina’s roads, we need new money,” Rutherford said. “Either we’re going to raise people’s taxes, or we’re going to come up with new ideas.”

Haley and Republicans have offered divergent plans for dealing with the state’s $1.5 billion-a-year shortfall in transportation funding. No bills have been introduced so far. The governor set out a three-part, all-or-nothing proposal that would phase in a 10-cents-a-gallon hike in the state gas tax in exchange for a gradual cut in the income tax and centralizing control of the Department of Transportation. Legislators are proposing raising the tax on wholesale fuel sales.

House Democrats’ proposal, while not directly tied to improving transportation, emulates nearly half the states in the nation struggling with the same dilemma as South Carolina — how to keep up with infrastructure needs without raising taxes?

To read the full article click the link below:

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150210/PC1603/150219963/1177/democrats-x2019-proposed-fix-for-state-x2019-s-roads-doubles-down-on-gambling

A majority of House members do not yet support the road-funding plans of either Gov. Nikki Haley or a House infrastructure committee, House Speaker Jay Lucas says.

Lucas also told The Greenville News that he prefers that there only be one bill on the issue.

“Right now I don’t think the majority of the House has coalesced around any one plan,” he said. “We are continuing to talk with the governor and the members to see if we can build a consensus around one plan. What we would prefer not to happen is three or four competing plans. I think if we could build consensus around one plan it would benefit not only the House but our state.”

Lucas made his comments as State Treasurer Curtis Loftis began lobbying against any plan that includes a gas-tax increase.

“South Carolinians deserve a safe and reliable infrastructure because it is essential to our State’s economic growth and prosperity,” Loftis said in an email message. “But a gas tax increase will only fuel special interests, damage job creation, and cost South Carolinians more at the pump.”

Americans For Prosperity South Carolina, a limited government group, is hosting a Statehouse rally Tuesday against the gas tax, featuring Loftis.

To read the full article please click the link below:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/09/lucas-house-majority-yet-backing-road-plan/23138579/

Murrells Inlet Garden City Fire Rescue crews want you to vote in their favor for a referendum to increase its districts’ tax millage cap. It comes with the stance that by paying more on your property taxes, you could actually save money in the long run. On top of that, the district would be able to get an entire new station.

The fire department already owns a plot of land on McDowell Shortcut Road. It’s the same spot the department has been trying to build a fourth station for the district since 2007 when the land was purchased. A vote on the property tax increase, described as minimal, would allow the department to finally build it.

“We’re at 10 mills now, we’re asking to go to 14 mills, which is not a whole lot,” says Al Hitchcock, the Chairman for Murrells Inlet Garden City Fire Rescue. “Georgetown County is at 29 mills, Horry County is at 21 mills. So this is not an unreasonable request.”

To put it in a dollar amount, “It would be about 37 dollars on the average home in our district,” Hitchcock calculates. “The average home is about $235,000 dollars. “

Hitchcock says the increase in taxes could save you more on fire insurance when the department is evaluated. This could happen once the fourth station is built and new equipment is purchased. Without the increase, your fire insurance could go up.

Democratic legislators say Gov. Nikki Haley’s plan to cut income taxes by $9 billion over the next decade is nothing but a tax hike for more than a million South Carolinians.

House and Senate Democrats urged Haley on Thursday to stop holding infrastructure funding hostage to a proposal they say primarily benefits the wealthy and forces cuts in needed government services, without sufficiently addressing the state’s infrastructure needs.

Haley announced last month she’s willing to support increasing the gas tax by 10 cents over three years to pay for road and bridge work, but only if legislators cut income taxes by 2 percentage points over 10 years.

That would reduce revenue by $1.8 billion yearly once fully implemented, according to the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.

The office’s economic advisers project that 1.1 million people who file income tax returns — or 46 percent of filers — would see no benefit because they would pay no personal income taxes anyway, due to previous cuts to the bottom brackets.

Democrats note those taxpayers would, however, pay the gas increase.

“One million people will only see a tax increase,” said Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia.

In promoting her plan, Haley touts the average tax cut reaches $689 in 2025. But Democrats say the average masks that the biggest beneficiaries by far are millionaires.

According to economic advisers, about 380 filers who report a taxable income of at least $2 million would each see a $146,000 tax reduction in personal income taxes in 2025. Those reporting between $1 million and $2 million would see a $40,000 reduction.

As gas prices begin to rise back above $2 at gas stations in South Carolina after a record drop over the past four months, state lawmakers are considering adding an additional 10 cents to the price of gas to help fix the state’s crumbling roads.

Gas prices could increase 30 to 50 cents between early February and spring as refineries shut down for maintenance, according to a news release from AAA Carolinas. They should stay below $3 per gallon in 2015, AAA said.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The state Transportation Department wants $5.5 million in new state money next year, including money to pay for salt sheds, officials told a panel of House members Wednesday.

The $5.5 million requested is less than 1 percent of the $1.5 billion-a-year in added money the department estimates it will need to maintain and expand the state’s crumbling roads and bridges through 2040.

Still, if lawmakers approve the request, it will be 10 times the $500,000 the agency received for buildings last year.

The Transportation Department operates on a $1.6 billion-a-year budget, 57 percent of which is federal money. The department’s budget also includes money from the state’s 16.75 cent-a-gallon gas tax and money from bonding through the state infrastructure bank. Most of that money does not flow through the state’s $7 billion general fund.

The Transportation Department’s budget request is modest, said state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, who chairs the House subcommittee considering the request.

Limehouse described the state’s roads as dilapidated, adding that new revenues will be needed to fix them. “We need a significant influx of cash into South Carolina’s transportation projects … if we are to come up to standard.”

When buying a cellphone plan, many customers may assume they’re just agreeing to pay that monthly rate advertised in the window.

But then once that first bill shows up, there are all sorts of little charges and fees that can add up to $10 or more, depending on where the customer lives.

What some may call “hidden fees” are actually supporting a number of public programs, so they’re not a gimmick for the carriers to make more money. In fact, some major wireless companies are fighting a bill in the South Carolina Senate that would add about 1.1 percent to their customers’ bills. They say the proposed law would create a “regressive tax” on the 4.5 million cellphone users in the state to pay for a program that wouldn’t benefit them.

The S.C. Taxpayers Association, a civic group that opposes most legislation that levies new taxes, disagreed with that argument.

“We don’t view this one as a tax increase, because if you don’t use a telephone, whether it’s a cellphone or a landline, then you’re not paying for it,” said Don Weaver, president of the organization. “We just don’t think it’s fair that this cost is not being equally distributed among newer cellphone users.”

For the full article please click the link below;

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150204/PC05/150209669/1505/bill-could-add-new-fee-for-south-carolina-cellphone-users

The S.C. House Republican Caucus  supports Gov. Nikki Haley’s plan to cut the state income tax and increase the state gasoline tax but needs to figure out a way to offset the loss of revenue, Rep Bruce Bannister, R- Greenville, said today. The House majority leader said “there is nothing in her proposal that we don’t view as a good thing.”

“Whether or not we can get them all done at one time is something we don’t have an answer to yet,” Bannister said. He said the 78 caucus members are glad Haley “is taking a leadership role in directing additional” money to roads.

Speaking to more than 400 people Friday at the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting, Haley continued to promote her plan that would cut the income tax rate from 7% to 5% over 10 years and raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon.

The governor said South Carolina has the highest income tax in the Southeast and “that’s not a good thing.” She said the rate needs to be lowered to keep the state competitive in economic development efforts that have created about 60,000 jobs in the last four years. She said the income tax cut would reduce the tax burden for a person making $30,000 by $689.

Read the full article by clicking the link below:

http://gsabusiness.com/news/53621-rep-bannister-says-gop-caucus-backs-haley-tax-plan

When Gov.Nikki Haley peers into her crystal ball, what does she see?

First, taxpayers get a $5.6 billion tax cut, after subtracting higher gas taxes, over the next 10 years.

Second, businesses and working people pour over the S.C. border, drawn to the Palmetto State’s newly lowered income tax.

Third, a booming economy pays for those tax cuts, while a boost in the gas tax repairs S.C. roads.

“When you reduce or don’t have income tax, investment comes, businesses come, people come” and, along with them, more money, the two-term Lexington Republican said at a news conference last week, touting her tax-swap plan as a way to ensure South Carolina remains competitive with its neighbors.