Stop feeding the insatiable beast

Clyde Hiers’ recent letter makes some interesting and undoubtedly accurate observations about eliminating income tax in this state. He is clearly skeptical of the prospects of this happening for a host of technical/actuarial reasons, using the state of Florida for comparison. I share his skepticism for distinct reasons. South Carolina will not eliminate the state income tax because there is simply no political will to do so. Our state (like many others) does not have an income problem; it has a spending problem. 

Our politicians have been paying lip service to eliminating the income tax since I moved here 25 years ago. Over the same period, the state budget has ballooned at a rate faster than the increase in taxes from all sources. The profligate state bureaucracy created by our "conservative” majority has become so vast and entrenched that few politicians are seriously motivated to take on the various special interests that benefit from the public largesse. Most fear alienating their donors and preferred constituencies more than they do the voting public.  

For me, the question is not how we must find alternative sources of income to replace the income tax, it’s what nonessential spending cuts are required to tailor the state government’s budget to that of the taxpayer burdened with funding it. Ask not how to continue feeding the insatiable beast; ask how to slim it down to a responsible and responsive size and form.  

The government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. I appreciate Clyde’s comparative financial analytics, to which I would further posit that only economic pressures from outside our state could provide an impetus powerful enough to compel our politicians to start walking the talk. Sadly, I don’t see that happening any time soon. 

Robert Carew 

Daniel Island