SCAT members and all Lexington County residents! Please join us in attending the meeting tonight to fight the 1/2 sales tax increase! The meeting will be led by a SCAT member, Don Carlson, and SCAT’s president Don Weaver, and Dino Teppara, currently running against County Council Jeffcoat, will be there speaking against. This is a great opportunity to have your voice heard and prevent an unnecessary tax increase.

T-Minus 20 days until SCAT’s Membership Appreciation Event! Any current members are invited to attend, and anyone interested in signing up to become a SCAT member can do so for just $25! With your $25 donation, you will also receive a complementary gift. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us atscat1982.org@gmail.com or (803)-748-9198.

Lexington County, in an effort to focus on traffic and tourism, is looking to reinstate its 2% hospitality tax in the upcoming months. This tax is designed to help restructure major intersections and redirect traffic while focusing on tourism! Keep in mind that this is a tax INCREASE, without any signs of a tax decrease to offset this increase in the future. Also important to know is that this tax was used in the early 2000’s, but scrapped as a result of discontent from the public. If you have any comments or thoughts on this matter, please don’t hesitate to share them below!

Our end of session newsletter went out last week, which was packed full of information about SCAT’s position on important legislation that was discussed in the 2014-2015 session. It also included an invitation to all of our members about the upcoming Membership Appreciation Event we will be holding free of charge for all members. This event will include free food and drinks and host important state leaders as guest speakers! If you would like more information, or are interested in becoming a member, please reach out to us at scat1982.org@gmail.com or by phone at (803)-748-9198!

In the next week, the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers will mail out our semi annual newsletter!  In this letter, we recap all that we accomplished in the past 6 months, as well as hint as what we’ll be working on in the upcoming months.  We also have our invitation finalized and included for our Membership Appreciation event that we will be holding in late August.  If you are interested in this information, we are more than happy to send this information.  And, as always remember that if you are considering becoming a member, please reach out to us via email at scat1982.org@gmail.com, or via phone at (803)-748-9198!

SCAT mailed out this letter today:

Dear South Carolina Association of Taxpayer Members,                                                                    June 9^th, 2015

First, I want to say thank you for your continued support of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers (SCAT).  As you know, we are an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research group whose purpose is to encourage South Carolina government to operate more efficiently.  We strive to provide you with up to date information regarding issues that affecting the taxpayers, through mailings, emails and social media. 

The purpose of this letter is to gauge the interest of current members in supporting the establishment of a Florence chapter of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers.  Establishing a Florence Taxpayers chapter is crucial to increasing SCAT’s representation throughout the state.  As our size increases, so too does the voice we have.  It would also give concerned taxpayers a voice on the local level and it strengthen our mission for more efficient spending on both the local and state government levels as a whole.  If you or someone you know is interested in helping to create this group please do not hesitate to contact us immediately. 

Each and every member can play an important role in the creation of this new group.  If you agree that we need better and more efficient government, please email or call Chip Fallaw at scat1982.org@gmail.com or (803)-748-9198.  As we are looking to establish a group immediately, it is crucial that you reply as soon as possible!  Please, detach and fill out the form below to indicate your interest.   

No one has a better interest in protecting South Carolina’s taxpayers than local residents.

While the letter mailed out went only to the members residing in Florence county and the surrounding cities, we are happy to accept any volunteers who would be interested in helping us to establish a Florence chapter.  We hope to have a date for the first meeting within the next two weeks, and then will be searching for members residing within Florence to help lead the first meeting!  If you are interested, please reach out to us at scat1982.org@gmail.com or (803)-748-9198!

South Carolina lawmakers will adjourn for the year Thursday, likely without a plan for funding repairs to the state’s roads and bridges. A bill that would raise the gas tax, cut the state income tax, and restructure the Department of Transportation is stuck in the state Senate.

“People want to have their roads fixed, but they’re very divided about how they want to go about doing that, and those divisions are reflected here; we’re divided too,” says Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield.

Lawmakers are divided into three groups: one that favors raising the gas tax as a permanent and stable source of money for roads and bridges; one that wants to raise the gas tax while cutting the state income tax to lessen the blow of the gas tax increase; and one that doesn’t want any kind of tax increase, arguing that there’s already enough money in the state budget to maintain roads.

Read the full text here: http://www.wbtw.com/story/29234665/sc-lawmakers-to-adjourn-thursday-likely-without-roads-bill

The 2015 Regular Session of the South Carolina General Assembly will come to a close at 5:00 pm next Thursday. Legislators will be spending the week working on the two biggest issues that have dominated the past couple weeks of debate at the State House – The State Budget & Road Funding Package.

While the debate over these two issues is still ongoing, we do know one thing for sure – South Carolina will have a balanced Budget this year! That’s because, unlike Congress, our State’s Constitution bans lawmakers from spending more of our tax dollars than are available each year.

Typically, Congress approves an unbalanced Federal Budget – But that didn’t happen this year. With a new Republican Majority now in both Houses, this month Congress passed the 1^st Balanced Budget in 14 years!

Our state’s Congressional Delegation Members overwhelmingly supported this balanced spending plan and deserve real credit for their leadership and responsible use of our tax dollars. A few of the spending reforms included in the approved Federal Budget include:

Balances the Budget

$5.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts

$430 Billion in Cost Savings to keep Medicare Solvent

$96 Billion for Vital Defense Funding

According to the Centre Daily Times,

Nikki Haley said in her State of the State address that “our state’s 7 percent income tax rate stands out and puts us at a disadvantage. In order to keep the ball rolling in our economy, we must bring down our income tax.”

Lawmakers who agree with Haley point to that 7 percent top rate as the highest in the Southeast. However, South Carolina’s effective rate — what people actually pay — averages just under 3 percent, ranking 10th lowest nationwide among the 41 states that tax wages, according to the state’s Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.

That’s largely due to South Carolina, unlike most states, basing tax collections on “federal taxable income,” meaning the state taxes only what’s left after home mortgage interest, property taxes and various other deductions and personal exemptions are subtracted. Add to that South Carolina’s generous tax breaks, which rank among the highest nationwide.