Taxes and Spending

  • Governor’s vetoes don’t touch hundreds of millions in earmark spending

    By RICK BRUNDRETT When it came to reining in lawmakers’ spending on their favored local projects for the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. Henry McMaster used a veto butter knife on earmarks totaling more than $709 million. In his annual written veto message released Tuesday, McMaster vetoed just six out of 515 state...
  • House follows Senate in earmark money grab

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Like the 46-member S.C. Senate, the 124-member S.C. House apparently can’t resist spending hundreds of millions in state surplus dollars – mainly on lawmakers’ favored local projects. Bolstered by a rosy prediction last week by official revenue forecasters that the state’s general fund surplus for this fiscal year...
  • Senators feast on taxpayer-funded earmarks for pricey projects

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Through largely hidden budget earmarks, S.C. senators have proposed a total of more than $314 million for projects next fiscal year mainly in their respective legislative districts – including dozens of $1 million-plus requests, a review by The Nerve found. The 46-member Senate two years ago changed...
  • Policy Council advocating title insurance reform

    By Dallas Woodhouse Bills under consideration in the S.C. Legislature would remove a quirk in state law that unnecessarily regulates the relationship between title insurance agencies and their underwriters. A recently filed state House bill along with its Senate counterpart would embrace the free-market system and allow the two parties to negotiate commission payments...
  • Constitutional amendments to strengthen state reserves cruise to passage

    By RICK BRUNDRETT S.C. voters in Tuesday’s general election easily approved constitutional amendments to increase the state’s two main “rainy-day” funds. With all 46 counties reporting, the proposals to expand the General Reserve Fund (GRF) and Capital Reserve Fund (CRF) passed by about 62% of the vote, according to unofficial State...
  • SCPC, ATR to hold statewide tour on ballot amendments

    By RICK BRUNDRETT The South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization – and Americans for Tax Reform, a national taxpayer advocacy group, are touring the state next week to promote proposed constitutional amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot to increase the state’s two main “rainy-day” funds, according to...
  • Many SC voters favor bigger state reserves. Will they approve it this year?

    By RICK BRUNDRETT South Carolina voters in November will decide whether to approve constitutional amendments to increase the state’s two “rainy-day” funds, though a just-released poll casts doubt on their passage. The statewide poll by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization – found that a plurality...
  • Compromise bill reflects SCPC poll results on tax relief

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Just days before a legislative conference committee approved a compromise tax-cut bill, South Carolinians expressed strong support for tax relief in a poll released by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization. Contacted last week by The Nerve before the deal was announced, several senators who...