Leatherman’s Wrong TRAC

Let’s get this straight – the S.C. Senate Republican Caucus put out a press release yesterday praising two former Democrats for delaying reform to our state’s antiquated, burdensome tax code?

Yup.

Then they actually had the nerve to claim that this anti-reform measure was “tax reform legislation moving forward,” which we suppose is true if you’re playing “Opposite Day” with your five-year-old.

In the news release, Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman lauds his fellow former Democrat Billy O’Dell for moving the “Tax Realignment Commission” bill out of a Senate subcommittee.

Leatherman will not twist arms to get the proposal out of his Finance Committee, which means it will be on the floor of the Senate in no time.

As we’ve noted in the past, this proposal is the absolute worst possible thing the Senate could do on the issue of tax reform right now.

Committees have been studying our state’s anti-competitive tax code for decades now, so what in the hell is yet another government-funded study commission going to show us?

Seriously, people, we already know what Darla Moore thinks.

Ironically, Leatherman himself even acknowledges that “independent studies over the last several years concluded that our state is not as competitive as it must be to attract high-tech jobs and create new businesses within our borders.”

Duh … so wouldn’t the next logical step be for the Senate to do actually do something?

You know, instead of more talk from the same old status quo insiders?

Of course, the members of Leatherman’s “Tax Realignment Commission” would be severely limited in what they could even talk about.

The enabling legislation for the commission prevents it from taking up the recent property tax shift passed by the legislature, just as it would be prohibited from addressing the rampant excesses in our state’s fee structure, which South Carolina relies on for a disproportionate percentage of its income.

And even if it could address those things, Leatherman’s commission has no authority to do anything.

That authority rests with lawmakers, who apparently want nothing to do with it.

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