HERE WE GO AGAIN …
What do South Carolina politicians do when they wish to sound serious about an issue … but really aren’t?
Easy: They form a “review committee.” One which holds “hearings.” And issues headline-grabbing “recommendations.” Of course these recommendations are invariably ignored, duly discarded and resigned to gather dust in some government basement.
The latest example of this trend at “work?” S.C. Speaker of the House Jay Lucas‘ new “House Tax Policy Review Committee,” which according to the “Republican” leader is intended to review the state’s current tax code and submit “suggestions for reform” prior to the start of the 2017 legislative session.
“Our outdated tax code needs a dramatic transformation in order to promote economic competitiveness and increase the size of our citizens’ paychecks,” Lucas said. “Achieving this difficult task is long overdue, but necessary to ensure our tax code is fair for our taxpayers. A broader and flatter tax code will help continue to spur job growth and provide greater opportunities for South Carolina families.”
Yeah … all that sounds just great. Where has it been in practice, though?
This website has been arguing for broad-based tax relief for the past decade. What have “Republican” lawmakers been doing over that time?
Spending every last nickel (and borrowing even more nickels) on a government that is failing its citizens in every way imaginable.
Oh, and doing their damnedest to raise taxes further …
Anyway, Lucas has tapped 2018 “Republican” gubernatorial candidate Tommy Pope to lead this new committee. To his credit, Pope says his goal is to pursue a “lower, flatter, fairer” approach to tax collections in the Palmetto State.
That’s good.
We like fair. We like flat (with regard to taxes, anyway). And we really like low.
Now … do we have any expectation that this committee will actually produce recommendations leading to anything resembling a “lower, flatter and fairer” tax code in South Carolina?
Not really.
And on the off chance it does produce such recommendations, getting them through the “Republican-controlled” S.C. General Assembly is impossible under its current leadership.
Lawmakers are intent on ramming a gas tax through in 2017. They don’t care about low, flat or fair … they care about keeping their pockets padded. Period.
That’s why this effort … like its predecessors … will go absolutely nowhere.