Charleston, SC, site of the second debate in South Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial primary.
The Republican candidates vying to succeed South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) faced off in a debate held early this week in Charleston. During the debate on April 21, many of the candidates reiterated their proposal to completely phase out South Carolina’s income tax, a goal shared by all of the top contenders.
Thanks to legislation recently signed by Gov. Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s 6.0 percent top marginal income tax rate will fall to 5.21 percent, the cut made retroactive to the start of 2026. That top rate will continue falling over the next five years until it reaches a 1.99 percent flat rate. The recently enacted income tax reform also establishes revenue triggers that, if met, could completely phase out South Carolina’s income tax over the course of many years. All of the front-runners to succeed Gov. McMaster have declared their plans to accelerate that phaseout.
Attorney General Alan Wilson, who was the first in the race to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, unveiled his proposal to phase out the state income tax when he launched his campaign last year. Likewise, Congresswoman Nancy Mace declared her plans to eliminate South Carolina’s income tax even before formally launching her gubernatorial campaign.
During the Tuesday night debate in Charleston, Senator Josh Kimbrell pointed out that not only does he share the goal of income tax elimination, he filed legislation back in 2022 to move to a low, single-rate income tax. Though that proposal did not pass at the time, it started a discussion that ultimately led to the 2024 state income tax cut that was the first in the state’s long history. Income tax elimination was something that Sen. Kimbrell also emphasized during the first primary debate held at the beginning of April.
“Every state in this country that’s grown rapidly — Texas, Florida, Tennessee — has done so without an income tax,” Kimbrell pointed out during the first debate in Newberry, adding that he is “the only person on the stage who has introduced that in the Legislature of South Carolina.”
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette has also pointed to the success had by other no-income-tax states when discussing her support for phasing out the state income tax. “We can and we will eliminate state income tax,” Evette said last year, adding that “if Florida, Texas and Tennessee can do it, so can we.”
Competition is a great thing. Private sector competition results in better products and services at reduced cost to consumers. Competition between states for talent and job-creating investment leads to more hospitable tax and regulatory climates. Meanwhile, the fierce competition in South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial primary has resulted in great news for South Carolina taxpayers. Whoever prevails in the South Carolina GOP primary on June 9th, barring some unforeseen scandal or crisis between then and November, will be the next governor. As a result, no matter which of the top contenders prevails in the primary, South Carolinians can take comfort knowing their next governor is going to be committed to phasing out the state income tax.
