Guest Column: South Carolina is Holding its Small Businesses Back

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

by JACKLYN TALUCCI

***

I moved to South Carolina in 2022 from Florida (where they have it figured out), met my husband, and chose to stay here because I believed in this state. I believed that if you worked hard, invested locally, and cared about your community, small businesses could thrive here.

The more I dig, the more frustrated and honestly disgusted I become.

Let’s talk about real taxes, not headlines.

In South Carolina, when a home qualifies for the Homestead Exemption, that homeowner does not pay school operating taxes. That tax burden doesn’t disappear — it gets shifted. And it gets shifted to business property.

Small businesses are taxed at a higher property tax assessment rate and pay school millage that homesteaded residences do not. That means small businesses are helping fund schools through property taxes — on top of income taxes, business personal property taxes, licensing fees, insurance, and rising regulatory costs.

***

RELATED | TAX REFORM DISASTER

***

At the same time, large corporations often pay a lower effective tax rate because of incentives, abatements, and negotiated deals that small businesses don’t have access to. That’s how the system is built.

So ask yourself: who is really carrying this state?

Now add in rapid development and nonstop infrastructure approvals. Growth is happening everywhere, but accountability isn’t keeping pace. If we can’t stop and fix what’s already broken, piling on more doesn’t make us stronger – it stretches us thinner.

Here’s another hard truth: stop letting people spoon-feed you tiny pieces of information and telling you who to vote for. Stop listening to anyone who gives you one cherry-picked “fact,” then asks you to pay them to learn how to read a bill.

That’s not education. That’s control.

Bills are being stacked instead of fixed. Instead of amending existing laws, new bills get layered on top of old ones. Provisions are buried, language gets changed in one place but not another, and the public is left confused by design.

If you want real reform, you have to dig deeper. Read the bills. Ask questions. Sit down with people who will talk honestly not people trying to monetize your confusion.

If you see me supporting someone locally, legislatively, or statewide it’s because I believe they’re in it for the right reasons. Not for power. Not for profit. But to actually do the job.

***

I’m more involved than ever now. I’m watching closely. And until real reform happens, I do not recommend anyone open a small business here.

I’m in this for 2026 and beyond.

If I believe in you, I’ll say it loudly at the grassroots level.

If you care about South Carolina, get involved. VOTE!

Do your own research.

Ask harder questions.

And if you want to talk — message me, Transparency is what we NEED!

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Jacklyn Talucci is a small business owner and community advocate in South Carolina. She writes from lived experience about accountability, civic engagement, and the real-world impact of public policy on families and local businesses. Reach her via email here.

***

WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.