Tax, unemployment reform key to state chamber in 2010

The state chamber released its competitiveness agenda on Wednesday to coincide with the opening of the Legislature in Columbia. Reforms to taxes and the way South Carolina handles unemployment are on it, as is a plea to better fund the Commerce Department.

By Mike Fitts
mfitts@scbiznews.com
Published Jan. 14, 2010

Reforms to taxes and the way South Carolina handles unemployment are on the S.C. Chamber of Commerce’s agenda for the 2010 legislative session, as is a plea to better fund the Commerce Department.

The state chamber released its competitiveness agenda on Wednesday to coincide with the opening of the Legislature in Columbia. “Business and community leaders from around the state identified these issues as being critical to the state’s business climate, and we ask the General Assembly to carefully examine them,” chamber CEO Otis Rawl said in a statement.

Job creation must be key for the 2010 Legislature, and that means better support of economic development, especially the Commerce Department, the report said. Like much of state government, Commerce has taken considerable budget cuts in recent years. The chamber called for adequate funding of the department, including its deal-making closing fund. It also called for adequate funding of other activities that promote the economy, such as improvements to transport infrastructure and tourism marketing.

The chamber endorses reform at the Employment Security Commission, citing the money the trust fund has borrowed from the federal government to pay claims — more than $700 million. The agenda rejects talk of a doubling of the taxable wage base for unemployment funding, saying “businesses cannot afford these type of cost increases during this time.”

Again, the chamber calls for broad revision of the tax code, including the repeal of Act 388, which changed residential property tax. The tax changes have put too much of the cost of public schools on the backs of businesses, according to the agenda. “Now, the warnings are reality, as the one penny sales tax is not generating enough money to fund homeowner property tax relief,” according to the chamber’s release.

On other issues:

The chamber argues that the state’s cigarette tax should be raised and the money used to help small businesses with their health care costs.
The chamber endorses more tort reform, including caps on noneconomic damages and making seat belt use admissible in court.
A constitutional amendment should be passed to protect secret balloting in union certification elections. Legislation has passed the House, but not the Senate.
Work force development efforts need to be funded, particularly the Personal Pathways to Success effort to teach high school students more about their career options.