HALEY PLAN: START PAYING NOW, AND YOU MIGHT GET A FRACTION OF IT BACK IN THE DISTANT FUTURE.
Gov. Nikki Haley has proposed a plan to remedy South Carolina’s deteriorating roads and bridges: Raise the gas tax 10 cents over three years, cut the income tax by 2 percent over ten years, and restructure the Department of Transportation.
From the S.C. Policy Council’s analysis of the governor’s plan: “The income tax reduction plan depends on the highly suspect assumption that lawmakers will agree to it – or at least not repeal it – each year going forward. Haley’s plan is to offset her proposed gas tax increase with 0.2 percent reduction in the top marginal income tax rate each year for 10 years until the rate is reduced from 7 to 5 percent. But neither Haley nor the current legislature can force future legislatures to implement these proposed tax cuts. There’s a very real chance that taxpayers under Haley’s plan would receive the upfront increase in the gas tax but receive nothing or almost nothing of the income tax reduction.”
From The Nerve on Wednesday, Jan. 28: “According to the charts provided by the [S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office] to The Nerve, the projected average tax liability per filer under [Gov. Haley’s] plan would drop from $1,483 in 2016 to $1,383 in 2025, a decrease totaling just $100 for the entire 10-year period.”