Category Archives: Taxes

Every Family in SC Pays Taxes: The Poorest Pay a Larger Share of Their Income than Wealthiest

Posted on October 19, 2018 by The Ruoff Group

As the S.C. General Assembly looks to do “tax reform,” a new report, Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States by the D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy [ITEP] illuminates the flawed premise … Continue reading →

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Non-Tax Revenues: It’s Really About Making Higher Education Unaffordable

Posted on April 3, 2013 by The Ruoff Group

In a recent editorial in The State, Cindi Ross Scoppe points to the highest in the nation share (48.4 %) that non-tax revenues made in 2010 of state and local revenues. “Our non-tax revenue in 2010, the latest year analyzed, … Continue reading →

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Who Pays State and Local Taxes in South Carolina?

Posted on January 27, 2013 by The Ruoff Group

Low-income and middle class taxpayers in South Carolina pay a larger share of their income to support our public structures and systems than do our wealthiest taxpayers. The quality of life we all enjoy in South Carolina is directly connected … Continue reading →

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The Haley Budget Translated: Blame It on Obamacare

Posted on December 26, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

To listen to Governor Nikki Haley, a core budgetary problem facing our state is Obamacare. “Every dollar that Washington forces us to spend on a still-inefficient Medicaid program is a dollar we can’t put into our schools, into our roads … Continue reading →

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Governor Haley’s Vetoes and Budget Policy: what seventy-four vetoes to the General Appropriations bill and seven in the Capital Reserve Fund bill mean for teachers, the arts and our oceans

Posted on July 9, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

The General Assembly’s failure is two-fold—they failed to produce a timely budget and,­ combined with gubernatorial vetoes issued late Thursday, have thrown school districts and at least two state agencies into uncertainty. Governor Nikki Haley’s vetoes would eliminate $10 million … Continue reading →

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Much Ado About Nothing: SC Sales Tax “Reform”

Posted on April 20, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

After much publicity about eliminating two-thirds of sales tax exemptions, the SC House Ways & Means Committee concluded on Wednesday that the state’s sales tax system wasn’t so broke after all. After reviewing the $2.8 billion in sales tax exemptions, … Continue reading →

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Rewarding Work and Building Wealth: A State Earned Income Tax Credit

Posted on April 16, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

Rather than doling out small individual income tax cuts of up to $84 per year to better off taxpayers, the South Carolina General Assembly should instead implement a Ronald Reagan endorsed pro-family, job creation measure which can have real impact—a … Continue reading →

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SC House Republicans Move to Tax Working Poor

Posted on March 21, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

The SC House Republicans have moved to amend legislation to increase taxes on working poor South Carolinians.  The bill (H. 4997), part of the House GOP Caucus’s “comprehensive tax reform,” originally provided up to a $168 tax cut to taxpayers … Continue reading →

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SC House GOP Sales Tax Plan Addresses only 8 % of Exempted Sales

Posted on March 15, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

Leaving the cap on sales taxes on cars untouched, the much ballyhooed elimination of “two-thirds of the special interest sales tax exemptions” in the SC House Republican Caucus’s comprehensive tax reform plan only effects 8 % of sales and use … Continue reading →

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Funding Private Schools—Here We Go Again

Posted on February 29, 2012 by The Ruoff Group

State funding of well-off private school students and homeschoolers is back on the agenda with a South Carolina House subcommittee hearing Wednesday on the latest effort to subsidize private education with public dollars.  The design of the latest proposal will … Continue reading →

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