The Palmetto Insider

Want to know where to find the most recent figures on stimulus spending? Check out this Comptroller General site, complete with detailed line items of expenditures.

The current page is updated through the end of November — a total of $834,507,400 in tracked spending.

For more on the stimulus, see here and here.

That’s a pertinent question for South Carolina legislators, who it seems are considering adding an internet tax — which will essentially be targeted at Amazon purchases.

According to the Tax Foundation, an Amazon Tax would be unconstitutional.

The report states:

If such sales can now expose these businesses to tax compliance and liability risks in states where they merely have customers, they will be less likely to expand their reach into those states.

The backbone of South Carolina’s economy are the small businesses. In fact, they account for about 97 percent of employers, according to the Small Business Administration.

A Policy Council report released today details legislation from Columbia in the 2009-2010 session that will affect small businesses.

One bad idea: S 45 would require licensure (and regulation) over interior designers.

See the full report for more details.

Last month, the Policy Council testified to the Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) about sales tax reform in South Carolina.

Streamlining and simplifying the tax code is one of the key points addressed.

Case in point – take the following “explanations” pulled directly from the tax code:

Are sales of farm machinery to a farmer subject to the sales and use tax?

Sales of farm machinery meeting the requirements of the exemption in the sales and use tax law for farm machinery are exempt from the sales and use tax. If the sale of farm machinery does not meet the requirements of the exemption, the sale is taxable.

Does that provide clarity?

Let’s look at this other gem:

Do mopeds qualify for the maximum tax?

A moped that has pedals that allow for human propulsion does not qualify for the maximum tax.

A moped that does not have pedals and therefore does not allow for human propulsion qualifies for the maximum tax.

Why so much wording?

These kinds of sales tax complexities simply add to the compliance burden for companies.

With a lowered overall sales tax combined with no exemptions, we wouldn’t need such unintelligible language in the tax code.

South Carolina would be better off with a shorter, more concise tax code — much like Hong Kong, which has an entire tax code comprised in about 200 pages. By comparison, South Carolina’s Sales Tax Code is 306 pages — 52 pages alone dedicated just to FAQ.

The authors of Unleashing Capitalism show how Hong Kong has experienced a rapid growth in per capita income — rising from $3,757 in 1960 to $32,800 in 2002 — an annual growth rate of 5.3 percent. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s annual growth rate is 1.2 percent and its per capita income is $31,884.

According to BB&T CEO John Allison, the 2008-2009 recession was not a result of market failure.

“Government policies create market distortions… Government regulation usually in the end looks like credit allocations usually to those that are politically favored at the expense of making sure credit is allocated to the most productive segments of the economy. Government regulation in the long term is almost always destructive.”

Allison’s interivew is part of a new batch of interviews from The Big Think that will take a look back at what went wrong with the financial crisis. The series will be updated weekly, with Allison being among a number of regular guests including Harvard University Professor Bill George and Columbia University Business School Dean Glenn Hubbard.

Elections reform is a commonly studied item at the federal and state level.

What’s on the agenda in Columbia? Check out the Policy Council report released today on elections legislation during the 2009-2010 session.

Today’s Post and Courier details the Charleston County Council’s refusal to release detailed plans of the incentives to be given to Boeing.

Said County Council Chairman Teddy Pryor, “I hate to say it, but this is one of those things where people need to trust that we are doing what’s best for the county.”

Susette Kelo, a homeowner in Connecticut, lost the now infamous Kelo v. New London court case in 2002 — where the city seized her house through eminent domain.

Typically, eminent domain is reserved for public use — building a public road for example. But New London was handing Kelo’s property (among others) to a private company, Pfizer, under the premise of a “public use.”

The city sold-out its citizens to appease one special interest group. But now, it seems the story has come to an unfortunate close.

Pfizer announced in November that it is pulling out of New London — all that remains on Kelo’s property is some grass and dirt.

Check out the Policy Council’s update on property rights legislation here in South Carolina.

Today the Policy Council released The Best & Worst to Come: A Review of Property Rights Legislation for 2009-2010, a preview of ideas on property rights that are likely to come up in the General Assembly in 2010.

Private property rights are an integral part of free and prosperous society and a vital ingredient for a vibrant economy.  There are several ideas likely to surface in 2010 that could positively or detrimentally effect properly rights in South Carolina.

The Best Ideas include:

1)      Protecting Private Property

2)      Making the Annexation Process More Transparent

3)      Reducing Property Taxes

The Worst Ideas Include:

1)      Economic Development Schemes that Threaten Property Rights

2)      More Nanny-State Initiatives

To read more about property rights legislation, click here

Policy Council President Ashley Landess was quoted in Sunday’s Greenville News where she stated that many in the General Assembly do not have an accurate view of how money is being spent. 

“Ashley Landess, president of the S.C. Policy Council, a non-profit research group that has studied the total funds issue, said legislators don’t know how much of the money in the total budget is being spent because they only review details of the general fund. She said many legislators didn’t even know that agencies were using that much money until her organization published a report on the issue in February.

“’The ridiculousness of this just cannot be overstated,’ she argued. ‘There is a fair debate here about what we as citizens want to pay for. But we can’t possibly hold that debate until we know every dime that is being spent and we know where it’s going.’”

The Greenville News report examined the fact that most legislators only know about the General Fund budget, which represents less than one third of the total funds being spent by South Carolina’s government.

“’Government has been growing, and it’s grown at a rate far faster than inflation and income levels,’ she said. ‘You cannot prove that government isn’t growing by how many people are getting a paycheck.

“State government spends money on things other than employees, she said.

“’There is so much money being funneled into places/programs we can’t see, especially through the universities,’ she argued. ‘And millions to lawyers, lobbyists, PR consultants, advertising agencies.’”

The Greenville News article revealed that, some lawmakers argued that recent budget cuts would lead to widespread furloughs and layoffs and might trigger agencies to ask to run deficits. In reality, “legislative budget figures show that while the general fund portion of the budget has indeed shrunk in recent years, the total budget has increased. In fact, the current year’s budget of $20.7 billion before the cuts is the second highest in the state’s history,” the article reported.