Is Harrell’s “Kremlinator” In Trouble?

By FITSNews || S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s top legislative priority could face a protracted battle in the S.C. Senate, sources tell FITS.

The so-called “Economic Development Competitiveness Act,” which would codify and dramatically expand South Carolina’s failed command economic approach to creating jobs, passed the S.C. House last month by a lopsided 105-9 tally.

“Sometimes we have to hold our noses,” one lawmaker told FITS after the massive monument to top-down government planning passed the House on March 8.

The bill – which we have christened “The Kremlinator” – also cleared a Senate Finance subcommittee on Monday, prompting its proponents to trumpet the legislation’s momentum.

Fortunately, though, several fiscal conservatives in the State Senate are reportedly looking at the legislation from a taxpayer’s perspective, specifically zeroing in on the enhanced authority (and additional taxpayer-funded resources) that it would dole out to a host of government bureaucracies have proven positively inept in the past when it comes to “economic development.”

And while the bill does include the elimination of the corporate income tax (which is something that legislators should pass as a stand-alone bill), that small slice of good government is accompanied by massive big government power grab as well as multiple “revenue enhancements.”

Also, eliminating the corporate income tax would represent a tax cut of just $16 million out of a $21.1 billion budget.

Our main beef with this legislation is the expanded power and resources it would give to the state’s research universities, which have strayed from their primary role as institutions of higher learning and veered wildly into the realm of speculative real estate.

That approach has clearly not served our state – as evidenced by our 12.6 percent unemployment rate and historically low income levels – and yet Harrell wants to put it on steroids.

Meanwhile, a recent study showed that 40.5 percent of the state’s economy is comprised of government spending, a percentage that has only grown in recent years – even as America has suffered through the deepest, longest economic depression in eight decades.

One key player in the debate moving forward will be Senate “Majority” Leader Harvey Peeler, who bounces back and forth from protecting the taxpayers’ best interests to siding with Harrell’s command economic ally in the Senate, Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman.

Where Peeler winds up on this legislation could be critical – particularly in the event S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford vetoes the boondoggle.

For his part, Harrell has made it clear that passing “The Kremlinator” is his primary objective this session.  In fact, sources close to the Speaker tell FITS that he is willing to “bring the House along” on a higher cigarette tax hike and make “major concessions” to Senate leaders regarding the state budget in order to see that the bill passes.

The House recently voted to raise the state’s cigarette tax by 30 cents per pack (with no structural or Medicaid reform and no corresponding decrease), while the Senate has voted to raise taxes by 50 cents per pack (also with no structural or Medicaid reform and no corresponding decrease).

Frankly, for the sake of South Carolina taxpayers, we hope that both cigarette tax hikes and “the Kremlinator” die slow deaths this spring …

WEB EXTRA
H. 4478 (“The Kremlinator”)