COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - After several years of dismal reports, South Carolina's economy appears to be improving - albeit slowly, the state's panel of economic advisers said Tuesday.
A rise in corporate income tax and sales tax collections since the start of the fiscal year in July has helped the state generate about $75 million more than expected, said South Carolina's chief economist Bill Gillespie.
Gillespie said it has been a long time since he had seen higher corporate tax collections, which had grown 54 percent by February. Sales tax collections were up 5 percent for the same period, he said.
It's a sign the state's economy is rebounding, said John Rainey, chairman of the state Board of Economic Advisors.
"The good news is we have a margin on the plus," Rainey said.
It's also good news for state agencies, which have been hit by midyear budget cuts in the past few years because of the state's sagging economy.
The panel had adopted conservative projections in state revenue for the 2003-2004 fiscal year to avoid a funding shortfall, Rainey said. "We're going to be surprised on the upside," he said.
But there is no guarantee the state will finish the year with surplus cash.
"A lot of things can happen before the end of the year," Gillespie said.
The South Carolina Education Lottery also reported to the panel the games have generated more than $500 million for the state since it first started in 2002.
The lottery has funded over 300,000 college scholarships and sent tens of millions of dollars to aid primary education, buy new school buses and support an endowment fund for the state's three research universities, said Ernie Passailaigue, the lottery's executive director.
"Certainly, the lottery has exceeded my expectations," Rainey said.
But Rainey said he was concerned lawmakers would depend too much on the pot of lottery funds to pay for basic education programs "and then the lottery lose its pizazz."
"It's a problematic source of money," Rainey said.
Democrats unsuccessfully fought for more money from the general fund instead of the lottery to pay for basic education in the state budget that cleared the House last week.
