South Carolina ‘Republicans’ Foist $42.6 Billion Budget on Taxpayers

I realize there is always room for improvement, but you don’t get a AAA credit rating if you’re running up your budget deficit, have a high debt to revenue ratio, and taxation that causes your citizens to flee. We are one of only about 6 or 7 states with a AAA credit rating, so we actually handle our financial affairs pretty well. We also have a constitutional provision that was enacted back in the 90s that locks in the growth rate of government as a ratio of state population and GDP. And we are consistently in the top 3 destination states of the country for more than the last 10 years. That is not the picture of some oppressive tax burdened state. Could we eliminate income taxes, trim the budget a bit and then shift the shortfall over to accommodations taxes, liquor and “food & bev” taxes, sales tax in order to capitalize on out of state tourist revenue? Yes. But we are not as bad as this article would want to make it seem.