GOP SENATOR WANTS STRINGS-FREE TAX CUT …
|| By FITSNEWS || S.C. Senator Katrina Shealy is not a fan of “Republican” governor Nikki Haley‘s proposed income tax/ gas tax swap.
The GOP lawmaker – who was elected with Haley’s support as a petition candidate in 2012 – thinks the governor’s income tax reduction falls well short of what the Palmetto State needs to make up for the money being sucked up by Haley’s proposed gas tax hike.
To say nothing of stimulating economic activity …
“I was hoping we would go for real tax relief which I don’t think this small two percent income tax cut indicates,” Shealy said of Haley’s proposals. ” I am not even sure this is a tax swap at this point. We wouldn’t be saving South Carolina taxpayers enough to make up for a 10-cent increase in the gas tax.”
Haley claims her proposal would amount to a net tax cut of $5.5 billion over the next ten years – but she has yet to show her math (and her numbers have been far from reliable in the past).
By contrast, Shealy has proposed the complete elimination of the state’s top marginal income tax rate (which currently stands at seven percent) – with no corresponding tax increase.
Also, Shealy would get rid of the levy in half the time …
“My bill totally eliminated personal income tax over a five-year period at a rate of 1.4 percent per year,” she said.
Haley’s plan? It would reduce the rate by 0.2 percent per year.
Haley’s tax swap is intended to create new revenue for South Carolina’s infrastructure … which continues to deteriorate due to a lack of project prioritization (and excessive government spending on non-core functions).
Shealy’s bill? It’s intended to create economic growth … the kind that would be choked off if “Republican” tax swappers have their way.
“I am serious about fixing our roads we just need to find a way to do it without digging into the pockets of South Carolina citizens,” Shealy said.
We agree … and so do others.
This isn’t the first time Shealy has stood up to Haley. Last year she criticized the governor’s mismanagement of the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) – earning her Haley’s undying ire. Of course unlike a lot of conservative lawmakers, Shealy doesn’t just criticize – she offers concrete reform proposals.
We urge lawmakers to adopt Shealy’s income tax cut – and reject the various “swaps” proposed by Haley and other legislative leaders.
“South Carolina taxpayers simply cannot afford to keep shelling out billions of dollars on unnecessary government while critical infrastructure needs go unaddressed,” we wrote earlier this month.
Indeed …
79 comments
FITS propping another “darling” up on a pedestal.
They’re all politicians. Don’t be fooled. It’s only a matter of time before the greed sets in. It might be that she doesn’t hold enough power yet to be purchased.
In due time.
I told her last summer in Gilbert that she would be a great senator till she became corrupted. She claimed to be too old to corrupt. Hope she is right. We need a few politicians that are not corruptible. If for no other reason than the uniqueness of it.
??? Sorry Rouge, but ya all over the road there. A little edit and a bandaid & she’ll be fine.
It’s always exciting to watch wolves eat their young.
Here is an idea. Take the 7% income tax and use it on the roads instead of eliminating it.
Mmmmm … That might work better than taxing the poor and some of the middle classes.
Nobody will feel more or less pain. No more and no less tax than we currently pay.
No. Roads should be paid for by those who use them most. A gas tax is fairer and is also paid by out of state users of SC roads.
While we need roads, I can tell you it is being pushed by industry. I know because I have been in the industry 20 years.
The industry and all the hangers-on will make a fortune. Roads? Who knows.
When a candidate begins to consider a national stage, their consultants guide them LEFT…Haley can be gone pretty quickly to a federal position if she begins to go soft figuring she may as well, because she cannot run again….It’s political suicide…unless she wants to pull a Sanford on a Career-politician treadmill, in a relatively small-time position…
Very refreshing to hear that Haley’s Gas Tax will not fly.
I’m also glad to know this is Haley’s last term, and the Conservatives in SC have so much power to clip her wings…and they will…
Let’s hope Tim Scott is ready when she drops down and gets that eagal on.”
If Scott ran for governor, Haley would run for Senate.
I will tell you this. I drive 26 to 77 everyday. It is a disaster with a SC flair. 15 years ago this should not be a issue. 3 lanes from 95 to 77 should of been done. 95 should have 3 lanes to 77. DA, Get ready for more taxes.
15 years ago this should not be a issue.
Hmm… 4 years of Haley and 8 years of Sanford and the roads are worse? Can’t be. Fiscal conservative voodoo economics means less taxes = more revenue = everything magically gets better.
If anyone else where to propose “the Haley plan”, the SC Club for Growth would be attacking them. I’m guessing, however, that because the Queen keeps Waldorf on BEA, he would make sure that “the club” never goes against her. I wonder how that makes the club’s “heros” in the legislature feel? Second-fiddle? Third-fiddle? Shealy wants to ELIMINATE the income tax and she only gets a tepid response.
Based on the club’s quick press release supporting the Haley plan, I’m guessing they had a representative with her every step of the way as they discussed how she could propose a tax increase and still be a labeled the “Queen Conservative Hero.”
So, because of the club’s apparent collusion with the Queen, they have put their people (conservative legislators) in the position to support her tax increase…or else. (Remember, it’s an increase in taxes over three years, but a cut in taxes over 10 years.) So, now those “heros” will have to support a tax increase to remain a hero. Bow down…or else!!
I’m guessing the SC Chamber will support the Queen’s plan, with their leader being her former chief of staff. She’s spent the past few months shoring up her flanks so that she can propose a tax increase and still come off as being the penultimate conservative.
It’s unfortunate that those heros don’t realize how much they are being used as pawns, only to be cast aside if it helps the Queen. Like she said, it’s either all or nothing. Your opinion as a legislator means nothing!
Of course Haley’s tax plan isn’t real relief. Neither is Katrina Shealy’s tax plan.
What little “relief” you feel dissipates the moment the consequences of their plans hits you square in the nuts.
didn’t Kansas or Kentucky just eliminate their income tax claiming the revenue would be made up magically via this “stimulation”? Weren’t the results disastrous?
oh yeah…http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/opinion/kansas-ruinous-tax-cuts.html?_r=0
“… The cuts, which largely benefited the wealthy, cost the state 8 percent of the revenue it needs for schools and other government services. …”
That’s the NY Slimes idea of a “disaster”?
LOL … Cutting taxes still sounds like a good plan.
Two credit downgrades, an increase in poverty, a worse economy than it’s neighbors, and a brand new budget deficit. That is the result of a mindless ‘laffer curve’ tax cut that primarily benefited the wealthy and made cuts to education.
Not to mention the fact Brownback is now proposing a tax increase. He reached the decision that was necessary after the election. It just never occurred to him before the election that would be necessary, as he blasted his opponent in the election for saying a tax hike was necessary,
Hopefully Shealy will also fight S277, another new tax but on cell phone usage. This is a no brainer ‘no’ for conservatives as it would tax 4.5 million people. I hope they step in there and fight this on one off.
Forbes just wrote about it yesterday. http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/01/21/steve-forbes-cell-phone-taxes-hurt-consumers/22116615/
Katrina Shealy aka Sam Brownback.
Cutting income tax will stimulate the economy, and the resulting boom will result in even moooooooore revenue! It’s magic!
And if it, you know, does the exact opposite like everyone else says it will, well, we’ll just gut education.
Yes! It is magic! And when taxes come down, more businesses will open in SC, more private sector jobs … and more revenue for g’ment. It really is so.
And gutting the dumbing down, gutting common core baloney, letting a number of the top heavy bureaucracy out to pasture … Sound like a plan.
One thing for sure: Raising Taxes Will Never, Ever Improve the South Carolina Economy … You may quote me.
Pie in the Sky –
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/01/paul_ryans_reality_problem_why_his_justification_of_ruinous_supply_side_tax_policies_is_warped/
Katrina Shealy, aka GILF.
Ha! I thought it was only me…
I don’t discriminate over age. I’m “liberal” that way.
Equal opportunity, baby!
She’s taken. Right Senator.
Happy Meal in SC = $12.
Happy Meal in Wichita = $8.
“…… Shealy ..not..fan of… Haley‘s… swap…”
Why not, she has done pretty good in the swapping department
She swapped the front seat of a Volvo for a seat behind the Governor’s Desk
S.C. won’t rest until we make sure the universal tax rate is zero for everyone so we squeeze in between Somalia and Yemen for quality of life.
Meanwhile we’ll have our tattered kepis outstretched to Uncle Sam to beg for handouts year after year till kingdom come.
“S.C. won’t rest until we make sure the universal tax rate is zero for everyone so we squeeze in between Somalia and Yemen for quality of life.”
Conversely, if we increase the rate to 100%, we’ll be living in palaces.
Let’s split it halfway.
Nah, I want the palace.
OK, let’s split g’ment in half too.
I’m down with that. The R’s can have the South and Midwest and D’s can have the West coast and the North East. We’ll see which one is more prosperous in 20 years.
That test has already had an outcome and it has proven positive for those actual republicrat administered states that do cut taxes and clean up the corruption. … Check out Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma … even Colorado (even with the pipe dreams) … Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Arizona, Tennessee and all of the South East … even Florida. We could add South Dakota except they are flying too high from the private sector oil biz to get a good read.
Wipe your nose.
Do a google search of the rankings of the US 50 states. Hell, just put a broad parameter of US states ranked Best to Worst. See where your states mentioned above fall.
There are always critics and there are always lists. If the “progressive” Fascist tattle-tails wanna treat republicrat states poorly, who cares. And the leading job growth state is South Dakota, so how does that work? (And even Steve Forbes likes New York, but He does not live there because taxes are too damn high.)
Or, we could ignore arbitrary lists and look at what the real world and markets tell us. Where is everyone moving? The northeast corridor? Nope. Best rate of job growth and new business? Rust belt / midwest? Nope.
They are on borrowed time in those blue state areas, most of those gov’t are running huge deficits.
It’s like the argument about how “great” the healthcare is in socialist leaning Euro states…but no discussion on old infrastructure being used from the days under which the capital was private oriented…so they have a crumbling infrastructure but for now everything looks “rosey”…just like the remnants of Northern states wealth(or CA even). Of course, they also don’t account for the amount of walking Europeans do in general compared to Americans, out of necessity.
“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation,”-Adam Smith
The liberal monkey’s living here are always screeching about how great the North or Europe is, yet most of them are here, not there.
I think you have to take out retirees selling their homes and moving to a warmer climate when looking at those numbers. They are not moving for economic opportunity, they are looking for cheap real estate and cheap labor. They will be a net negative to the local economy over time as our health care cost skyrocket, and we have to provide long term care. Also, even as we temporarily prosper building our housing and infrastructure around caring for their aging asses we become the author of our own collapse as the baby boomers age, move to nursing homes, and then die off. No one to replace them, and no work caring for them.
SC’s population growth is not based on any real industrial growth and economic opportunity. Outside of the medical profession, all of our jobs are low wage service jobs and Walmart jobs.
I have already done the calculations between Democratic and Republican led states. Democratic led have higher standard of living, but Republican led have greater GDP growth and people are moving to them more.
Never in history has raising taxes “cured” anyone’s well being or security or position in life or income …
Cutting Any Tax, no matter which will certainly bring food costs down, stabilize rents, and improve the quality of life for all of the poor and the middle classes, for sure. (Even those g’ment employees, fearful of a pension cut or wage cut or g’ment job cut will be better off, count on it.)
Wipe your nose.
Except it has though….
Name it.
UK, Norway, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg, France, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Germany…..
Well, golly gee. But the EuroTrash don’t count anymore.
Sweden made your list because they have privatized their entire health care (and insurance) system. (Norway will shortly follow suit.) Switzerland has just gone onto The Gold Standard (and will shortly tell our own IRS to piss off, re: private, secure, numbered bank accounts), joining Luxembourg. Australia just dumped any and all poli-wog gun grabbers AND those fools touting “cap and tax” and “global” worming.
Do we have an America hater here? … Or just a frog lover? Wipe your nose.
Actually I love America and although I think she’s a good country, she could be a great country…but b/c of the likes of you…she’s held back. Such a shame.
Wipe your nose.
Yes they cut taxes–like fro 55% to 50%–and most have Value Added Tax on every purchase in the teens. Germany is 19%. So your data is crap
And all of those VATs are aimed at the common folk, the poor and the middle classes, except for the frogs’ hugely unpopular income “tax on the rich”.
Latest: The Swiss is now on a Gold Standard, so the smart money is flying to Davos to open accounts, stash Gold and cash.
For a state that would be like Yemen or Somalia today were it not for federal aid, there is an awful lot of hate for “big government”. Well, maybe only like Greece.
Greece is going to put a knife through their oligarchy soon, and Greece is nothing like Yemen or Somalia, just like SC isn’t.
Your causation fallacy not withstanding, you’re about to see what happens when you tell the money printers and their banking cronies to pound sand….and long term the people of Greece will be better off.
There is no such thing as tax relief unless a tax is cut out without adding one somewhere else. We all know the governments insatiable appetite for tax dollars!
Absolutely …
And a fuel tax increase does nothing for the poor or the middle classes.
Cut the income taxes or cut the sales taxes, first, then after careful consideration about who has been harmed and whose oxen have been gored … Consider raising a tax some where else … Or Not!
I would normally be in the camp of no on a tax swap since I agree with FITS and most on here that 388 was a disaster. But this one I don’t mind and support. The past couple of years the legislature has been content taking the “surplus” in the general fund and putting this towards roads either directly or by bonding it. This so called “surplus” in the general fund is 100% from South Carolina taxpayers and clearly shows we are over taxed on income and property. This swap lowers this tax that is paid by all South Carolina citizens.
A swap that lowers the income tax for a gas tax hike is a good investment for SC taxpayers. Estimates show about 35% to 40% of gas tax revenues are paid by out of state drivers. If our roads need investment and anyone with a car knows they do, we should use a source of revenue that is not 100% on the backs of South Carolinians. Planning roads and maintaining them in a smart way takes long term planning with fairly certain revenue predictions for what are very long term investments in infrastructure. This planning can’t occur when increases in the road budget are at the whim of the legislature when the “surplus” presents itself. The gas tax has its imperfections but it is the closest direct link to our roads and is clearly a use tax that needs to go up to maintain our infrastructure.
Neither FITS nor a single commenter I saw have mentioned this out of state versus completely on the backs of our citizens issue.
While it is a swap, it is swap that benefits the wallets of people in South Carolina and our roads and forces those that use it to pay for it.
35-40% from out of state drivers?
Source please?
“… A swap that lowers the income tax for a gas tax hike is a good investment for SC taxpayers. …”
Now there is that old saw again: taxes are an “investment”.
In what? More government? More broken schools? More corrupt elected? … LOL
“We wouldn’t be saving South Carolina taxpayers enough to make up for a 10-cent increase in the gas tax.”
My math may be fuzzy, but unless you buy about 1,000 gallons of gas each year, there’s no way you’d come close to spending the triple digit figures you’d save on income taxes under this plan.
Now whether it’s a good idea for the state to lose billions of dollars in revenue is another question.
The average taxpayer would net a $623 tax break.
However, an estimated 1.1 million S.C. residents would get no income tax break. Those filers — who make up to $5,000 a year in taxable income — do not pay individual income taxes. But they would have to pay the higher gas taxes.
Meanwhile, the wealthiest 379 S.C. taxpayers would see a cut of $145,784 each in their income taxes, according to the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs office.
http://www.thestate.com/2015/01/22/3944129_sc-gov-haleys-tax-swap-could-save.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
In other words, the poor get poorer, the rich get richer and budgets get cut across the board for every function of government, whether it is essential or not.
Your assumption is that tax cuts, no matter where, are all bad?
You may have a quiver of pointy objects to shoot down tax cuts for any and all, but you are missing the mark here.
Tax cuts are not a zero-sum game for the poor and middle classes In The Middle Of Depression/Ressession … Tax increases only increase taxsuckers. Your target should not be to kill taxpayers.
Tax cuts that put more money into the middle class do more for the economy because the middle class spends the vast majority of what it makes. It won’t make it’s way to the Cayman Islands. the way Mitt Romney’s savings would.
I would assume those who make less than $5,000 per year in taxable income probably aren’t constantly filling up their cars with gas.
Even if this plan were to actually happen (which it won’t), this would cost the typical driver about $1.50-$1.80 extra each time they fill up.
But, to be fair, I have been fortunate enough to never find myself in that situation.
Your math is not fuzzy if the tax cuts come first. Only after should any tax increases be considered … Or Not!
So show us, in line by line detail, the unnecessary government. Brownback commissioned a panel to do that in KS and their recommendations amounted to peanuts in the state budget. But, this is always to go-to rhetoric cause you can’t argue about waste, duplication, etc. It IS there, as it is in almost every private company too. The devil–or absence of one–is in the details. So, show us the devil specifically, in detail, or shut up. Restructuring alone doesn’t ensure greater efficiency and/or effectiveness.
LOL … Kansas may have many of the same g’ment problems as the rest of us … Too many g’ment commissions.
Gimme a break. It was a committee appointed by Gov Brokeback to go find all the duplication, waste, fraud and abuse he has been screaming about–like on this blog. The Gov gave the marching orders. They still came up with squat.
Let’s see:
Most posters here seem to think SC g’ment will follow through on cutting taxes elsewhere if only g’ment can raise taxes on fuel now.
“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”
????
I’m positive Haley doesn’t have a clue about what she is saying. I blame the Republicans for this. What in God’s name were you thinking?
Yes, it appears that a flock of republicrats want to fatten the SC calf so they can carve a bigger slice for their already bloated cronies and fat g’ment taxsuckers.
Maybe those tax increase bills need to be “recalled”.
I agree but do you the S.C. knows what recall means. If they don’t just look up the Auto Industry and their many recalls.
“Recall” of a bill or legislation is possible. (Shirley)
“Recall” of an elected official in SC is not, apparently. Unless SC voters can convince fed and state prosecutors that the legislator in question is breaking serious laws … Too bad.
By contrast, Shealy has proposed the complete elimination of the state’s top marginal income tax rate (which currently stands at seven percent) – with no corresponding tax increase.
Yes, Shealy is back with her half plan. The lets just cut taxes on the richest citizens and see what happens plan. We can repeat the Kansas miracle.
Rest assured ultimately Shealy’s plan screws middle income taxpayers in SC, but who cares about them anyway.
Haley and Shealy are both worthless.
What is your plan Tom?
I like how everyone is hating on everybody’s idea. They hate Shealy’s idea and they hate Haley’s idea but none of you have an idea of your own. I say put up or shut up!
Lexington County voters sure know how to pick a winner.