More Amazon

Today, I was able to make a presentation before a Senate Subcommittee that considered changes to Title XII Chapter 59 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. I was the only one who spoke and was questioned, and it only took about five minutes. Our committee that worked on the changes must have done a good job because the re-codification language we submitted was approved by the subcommittee and will now move up to the full Senate Finance Committee.

Before my hearing was able to begin, the Senate Finance committee debated the Amazon tax package for over an hour and a half. The hearing was marked by pained logic by Senators trying to find a way to bring these jobs to South Carolina – I feel their pain, and Governor Haley apparently does, too, since she refuses to take any side on the breaks that will further fracture our already broken tax system.

The continuing refrain from most of the Senators was that the “retail business model has changed” and, I guess that meant that they had to give some businesses breaks that no one else can be entitled to right now.

I want the jobs, and I would have voted “yes” to bring them to the Midlands. But, we should not even be having this debate in the first place.

The problem isn’t that the economy’s business model has changed – change is a constant in a vibrant economy. The problem is that South Carolina’s “tax model” hasn’t changed with the changing business models. And, the people in charge of it (Columbia’s executive and legislative branches) have no interest in changing how our tax system remains completely stagnant and riddled with give-a-ways – creating too many winners and losers. Our government’s leaders have adamantly refused to address this painful labyrinth of tax oxymorons that has become the South Carolina tax code.

We now have this conversation about Amazon’s investment in South Carolina and the unfair tax treatment they will benefit from. The debate we should be having now is for a fairer, lower, and broader sales tax system. Then there wouldn’t be a need for debates on incentives for individual businesses. Instead, we get another debate about which businesses can best lobby for tax breaks at the expense of everyone else.

We need the jobs, but we need tax sanity to make our state economically competitive even more.