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South Carolina state representative Dennis Moss has refiled legislation (H. 3279) intending to levy a horse-feed tax for the purpose of funding a statewide equine industry promotion board.
The Palmetto State has long been a leader in the nation’s equine industry due to the state’s favorable climate and soil conditions which allow for year-round horse activities. The Palmetto State’s climate, coupled with the large amount of land available comparatively cheaply has led to the emergence of a robust equine industry.
A 2019 University of South Carolina (USC) report prepared for the S.C. Department of Agriculture (SCDA) estimated 73,600 horses live in the Palmetto State. The same report indicated South Carolina’s equine industry has roughly $2 billion of annual economic impact and creates 29,000 jobs.
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According to the 2019 report, the industry has been steadily growing for an extended period of time, with economic data indicating a quadrupling of economic impact across a fourteen year period.
In 2021, lawmakers impaneled a study committee which produced a report addressing whether the state’s equine industry was “still viable or, as has been anecdotally observed by members of the equine community, in decline and in need of state intervention.”
The legislative report acknowledged USC’s economic data, but drew a different conclusion.
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“While the University of South Carolina’s study referenced above indicates a robust equine industry in South Carolina, the committee’s impressions were substantially different,” the report stated.
Unlike the university’s report, the legislative analysis was bereft of hard economic data to substantiate its conclusions. It did, however, include testimony that elucidated the concerns of some Palmetto State equine industry boosters.
President of the South Carolina horseman’s council, Lisa Zappalo, told the committee that major equine events are moving to Florida and Georgia due to to the state’s lack of adequately large facilities.
Zappalo testified that South Carolina was seeing a decline in horse riding “because the big trainers don’t have the facilities and are moving to other states.”
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Moss’ bill would create an “equine promotion board” to administer a state “equine promotion fund” intended to address concerns raised by the legislative report.
According to the bill, the fund “must be used by the board for the sole purpose of promoting the equine industry.”
If approved, funds for the board would be acquired via the assessment of a $2/ton tax on horse food. The legislation would create a bureaucratic framework requiring retailers to track food sales – and make quarterly remittences directly to the board.
Implementing this taxation framework is expected to cost SCDA $52,000 in the first year, and $37,000 in every subsequent year.
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As for revenue, a fiscal impact statement prepared alongside the 2023-2024 iteration of the bill indicated it was expected to bring in $178,000 – giving the board $151,300 for equine promotion once $26,700 had been allocated to SCDA expenses.
If the fiscal impact estimate were to prove accurate, the board would have little left to spend once it’s mileage, subsistence, and per diem allowed by law for state board members are paid.
The bill stalled last legislative session amid debate over the funding-scheme.
“It’d be simpler to write them a check than set up all this bureaucracy,” state representative Randy Ligon of Rock Hill, S.C. said during a subcommittee meeting. “We’re burning up more money talking about it than the horses are going to get.”
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The refiled identical bill for the 2025-26 legislative session also has drawn renewed fiscal criticism.
“We don’t need government doing advertising for a particular sector of the agribusiness, and we certainly do not need any more taxes in South Carolina,” S.C. Freedom Caucus chairman Jordan Pace told FITSNews.
While House lawmakers’ efforts to institute a feed tax do not promise a massive windfall for the state, Senate legislation (S. 344) which proposes the legalization of “advanced deposit account wagering” (ADW) would allow South Carolinians to bet on popular online horse race betting platforms like TwinSpires and AmWager.
While ADW betting is legal (and taxed) in most states, the few that haven’t specifically legalized the practice see their residents legally bet using foreign tax-free platforms.
States that have implemented the framework have collected millions in tax revenue annually, and many have allocated those funds towards equine infrastructure.
Then-representative (now senator) Russell Ott noted in testimony recorded in the state report that “all of the big facilities have been built on funding from wagering.”
Despite economic data showing the reinvestment of gambling taxation revenue has invigorated rival state’s equine industries, gambling legalization is a non-starter for many socially conservative legislators. If the betting bill does manage to clear both chambers, S.C. governor Henry McMaster has previously gone on record threatening to veto legislation containing horse-betting.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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4 comments
Leave it to government to “justify” growing itself. Seriously, horse owners need to pay yet another tax to a panel of leeches so they can take your money and promote your business, hobby, lifestyle, or whatever? You just can’t make this shit up.
Please do not create this tax for by doing it, you create a hardship for many horse owners trying to purchase feed that has already reached astronomical prices.We can’t afford it. By doing so, you also will cause people to get rid of their horses and thus defeat the purpose of your proposed tax. This is wrong g on many levels.
Dennis Moss is nothing more than a stupid ass retired Highway Patrol trooper that has no common sense. Horse owners are already paying astronomical fees for feed and animal care.
This article contains a number of inaccuracies. This is NOT a tax. Our neighbors in NC, VA, GA, and FL all have equine promotion boards or commodity boards dedicated to equines and their support is drawing a significant number of the profitable and lucrative disciplines out of our state.