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by WILL FOLKS
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Two small victories during the 2026-2027 budget debate in South Carolina involved the failure of state lawmakers to agree on $378 million in pork barrel spending – and the temporary repeal of a $150 million bailout for crony capitalist car manufacturer Scout Motors.
This combined $528 million in erstwhile unappropriated funds could have spawned an even bigger victory – serving the starting point for significant tax relief in the coming year.
Unfortunately, “Republican” lawmakers in Columbia, S.C. are poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on both these controversial components of the state’s bloated $42.7 billion budget.
Last week, governor Henry McMaster vetoed a section of the state spending plan that would have withheld the Scout Motors’ bailout pending a legislative audit – using his veto pen to restore this $150 million to the budget. McMaster, our audience will recall, was cheerleader-in-chief for the $1.3 billion corporate welfare handout South Carolina initially provided to Scout – a subsidiary of über-woke Volkswagen.
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Lawmakers apparently have no intention of challenging McMaster’s veto, meaning his controversial restoration of this crony capitalist appropriation will stand.
Even worse, budget leaders in the House and Senate – both of which are ostensibly controlled by GOP “supermajorities” – have reached a so-called “gentleman’s agreement” on a supplemental appropriations bill for the $378 million in pork.
News of this backroom deal was first reported by Joe Bustos of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper – and has since been confirmed by our network of sources.
“The bill will be done through a strike-and-insert on a House-passed bill that is sitting in the Senate waiting for a third reading,” Bustos noted. “If passed by the Senate, it will return to the House for a vote.”
And just like that, more than half a billion dollars that could have gone to tax relief is gone…
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With these two expected additions to the state spending plan, the 2026-2027 budget would climb to a record high of $43.2 billion – which equates to a 10.4% increase over the previous fiscal year’s spending plan.
What are South Carolina taxpayers getting out of this deal? Next to nothing…
At a time when affordability pressures are hitting Palmetto State residents harder than ever, so-called “Republican” leaders and their Democrat allies in Columbia, S.C. are ballooning bureaucracy and coddling corporate welfare recipients. After refusing to provide temporary relief at the gas pump this summer, they are now choking off meaningful long-term tax relief by funneling another half a billion dollars to the agency state and connected insider interests.
The only elected officials standing against this shameful, shortsighted mis-prioritization of resources? Members of the S.C. Freedom Caucus.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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