South Carolina overtakes North Carolina as national model for rate-reducing income tax reform.
Last night, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to concur with the state Senate’s amendments to H. 4216, legislation that will move South Carolina from a progressive income tax code with a top rate of 6.0 percent to a 1.99 percent flat rate in five years. The bill also provides a path to eventual elimination of the state income tax over time if revenue triggers are met.
House concurrence with the Senate’s amendments to H. 4216 means income tax relief “is going to get accomplished in South Carolina,” Speaker Murrell Smith (R) said after the Tuesday evening vote, adding that “it’s on the way to the desk of Governor McMaster,” who he expected to sign it.
Speaker Smith went on to add that enactment of H. 4216, which drops the state’s top marginal income tax rate from 6.0 percent to 5.21 percent in the first year, will deliver “immediate relief” for South Carolina taxpayers. “We’re going to be able to achieve the goal of going down to zero in the near future,” Smith added.
“Final passage of H. 4216 is a historic achievement for South Carolina taxpayers,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Thanks to the principled efforts of Speaker Murrell Smith, House Ways & Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, and House Majority Whip Brandon Newton, South Carolina is about to go from having the highest income tax rate in the southeast to the lowest flat income tax in the nation.”
“Thanks to the leadership of Speaker Smith, coupled with the improvements made by Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler and his Senate colleagues to speed up rate reduction, the Palmetto State will soon surpass the Tar Heel State as the national gold standard for rate reducing income tax reform,” Norquist added.
