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.

Grover Norquist, the primary promoter of politicians pledging not to raise taxes, is urging South Carolina lawmakers to support Gov. Nikki Haley’s roads plan that includes a cut in the state’s income tax.

The president of Americans for Tax Reform wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers and posted on the organization’s website that it is “imperative” South Carolina’s legislators use the 2015 session to cut the state’s income tax or risk placing the Palmetto State at a disadvantage when compared with its neighboring states.

“South Carolinians have been hit with over 20 federal tax increases in recent years; the last thing they need is another tax increase at the state level,” Norquist wrote. “Americans for Tax Reform will continue to follow these issues closely throughout session and will be educating your constituents as to how you vote on these important matters.”

Norquist added any gas tax increase must be coupled with lowering the income tax. Otherwise, lawmakers would simply be voting for higher taxes.

Read the full article by clikicking the link below:

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150129/PC1603/150129330/1177/grover-norquist-urges-sc-legislature-to-support-nikki-haley-x2019-s-roads-and-income-tax-plan

Gov. Nikki Haley brought reinforcements to a news conference Wednesday to help push her proposal to raise money for fixing the state’s aging roads and bridges through a gas-tax increase coupled with a cut in the income tax.

But House Democrats, who held a counter conference immediately after, noted that the support was coming from Haley’s hand-picked Cabinet members: Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt, Department of Transportation chief Janet Oakley and Department of Parks, Revenue and Tourism Director Duane Parrish. “We are now the state with the highest income tax in the Southeast,” Haley said. “We are now a state that is not going to look as competitive.”

Haley’s plan has been met with mixed reactions. It would raise the tax on gasoline by 10 cents over three years while reducing the state income tax from 7 percent to 5 percent over 10 years. It also calls for restructuring the Department of Transportation.

For the full article click the link below:

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150128/PC1603/150129381/1031/haley-ties-tax-cut-in-roads-plan-to-south-carolina-x2019-s-competitive-edge

Twice each month, Gail Strohmeyer climbs into her Ford pickup and drives 20 minutes south for the cheapest gas she can find. “I refuse to get gas anywhere else than the first BP station crossing the line into South Carolina,” said Strohmeyer, a Gastonia retiree.

She lives near Rhyne Elementary School in Gastonia and said the 10-mile drive makes sense because gas is so much cheaper in South Carolina than anywhere in Gastonia. A proposed change in the Palmetto State could cut into that savings. It exists mainly because South Carolina’s gas tax is 21 cents less per gallon than North Carolina’s.

The Marathon station on U.S. 321 and Gateway Farm Road — barely inside South Carolina — was $1.79 per gallon of regular gas Tuesday. Roughly 5 miles north, a WilcoHess station at York Road and Carson Drive, was selling regular for 17 cents more per gallon. Gastonia’s cheapest gas? The WilcoHess on West Franklin Boulevard, which was at $1.90 per gallon Tuesday.

Read the full article by clicking the link below:

http://www.gastongazette.com/spotlight/sc-gas-prices-could-go-up-1.430199

Richard Shannon moved to South Carolina from Memphis 10 years ago to raise his family. Shannon says he feels right at home in the Palmetto State, but his only complaint is having to drive on bad roads.

“If you’re drinking coffee or something like that, you better make sure you have a top on it,” Shannon said, “because if you don’t, you’re going to have some hot cocoa or coffee all over you.”

Shannon, an Uber driver, spends nearly half of his day on the road since his driving is his primary source of income.

“I have two rims and tires right now that are shredded,” Shannon said. “The rims are no good no more.”

In the past month alone, Shannon says he spent $1,600 on repairs to his BMW. He says the repairs have become par for the course and are affecting his ability to feed his family.

“It’s been at least two weeks that it’s got erased,” Shannon recalled, “where I’ve made good money and I had to put tires and rims back on my car.”

TRIP, a national transportation research group, recently found Columbia drivers are paying$1,250 a year because of bad roads. The state Department of Transportation says they paid out $232,800 for damage claims in 2013 not including payments by the Insurance Reserve Fund. Shannon says he hasn’t filed a damage claim form against DOT, but many others have.

Read the full article by clicking the link below:

http://www.wistv.com/story/27957716/bad-roads-across-south-carolina-costing-state-drivers-thousands-of-dollars