Gov. Sanford Calls on Senate to Further Cut Taxes, Repay Liabilities, Hold Line on Spending

Contributed by Thomas Hanson

Apr 18, 2007 at 12:00 AM

By Thomas C. Hanson GREER — Governor Mark Sanford visited Associated Packaging, Inc. in Greer, April 10 to call on small businesses and taxpayers to make their voices heard on the Senate budget being written that week in Columbia. The state House of Representatives had already passed its spending plan, which puts roughly $81 million toward income tax relief and $200 million toward paying for $9 billion in unfunded promises made to the state’s retirees. The governor said that while he applauds the House’s steps toward those goals, the Senate has an opportunity to put more toward those priorities with the $1.2 billion in new money coming into Columbia this year, above and beyond the $6.3 billion spent by the legislature last year. That increase would amount to almost $137,000 in new spending each hour over the next budget year. “While I’d give the House credit for making a down payment on a three-year income tax cut to take the top rate from 7 percent down to 6.4 percent, and for putting $200 million toward the unfunded healthcare liability, we think more can and should be done on both those fronts,” Gov. Sanford said in a statement. “If budget writers in the Senate choose to spend all of the $1.2 billion in new money coming into Columbia this year, it would amount to roughly 10 percent spending growth over and above the 22 percent growth in government during the previous two years—an unsustainable growth rate by any measure. Instead, we think it’s important for business owners and taxpayers to make their voices heard on the need for tax relief, the need to pay for past promises while times are good, and the need to hold the line on spending.” While still funding increases to core government services like law enforcement and education, Gov. Sanford’s Executive Budget proposed sending about 20 percent of new revenue back to taxpayers, compared to the roughly 7 percent currently proposed in the House budget.