Feuding senators locked in standoff

If Tuesday was any indication, it’s going to be a long final two weeks in the Legislature.

Senate Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday locked into what both sides called a major fight over Gov. Mark Sanford’s proposed income tax cut.

Democrats promised to block it and everything else on the Senate agenda until the tax cut is dead, while Republican leaders rallied their troops to prepare to work long into the night to fight for the bill.

“It’s clear now we’re in a standoff,” said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston.

Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, said Democrats are prepared to fight the tax cut until the session ends June 3: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have just started.”

If Democrats successfully block the income tax cut, they could hold up all action in the Senate, forcing the Legislature to leave having accomplished little.

Hanging in the balance is almost everything the Legislature had planned to do this year — including reforming the civil court system, restructuring state government, and much of Sanford’s agenda.

The income tax cut is Sanford’s top priority, and Monday he crisscrossed the state asking small-business owners to urge their senators to support it.

As senators adjourned Tuesday evening, Sanford made a rare appearance outside the Senate chambers. He said he had faith the senators would bring the issue to a vote.

“I trust their judgment,” he said. But he added a reminder to senators that partisan politics isn’t important to voters who care about the tax cut.

“Though it’s partisan right here, ultimately the beneficiary is someone who’s not looking at this through partisan glasses,” he said.

Democrats say their fight is not about politics; they believe the tax cut would financially ruin state government.

The proposal would lower the state’s 7 percent income tax to 4.75 percent in increments over 10 years.

Under a version of the plan approved by a Senate committee, the cuts would come only in years in which state revenues grow at least 3 percent.

Sanford and supporters of the tax cut say it would help small businesses expand and hire new employees and make South Carolina more competitive with its neighbors in recruiting businesses.

Opponents counter that the tax cut would benefit the top rung of taxpayers — those who pay the most tax — and force the state to cut already lean funding for schools and other services.

Senators have known the tax cut would cause a fight that could gum up the works. A week ago, the talk was that senators would delay the issue until the very end of the session to avoid blocking other bills.

That changed last week when House members tacked the House version of the income tax cut onto a bill dealing with local sales tax referendums. Under Senate rules, that bill has to be voted on first.

But Democrats are blocking that move using a Senate rule that allows them to continue offering amendments to the bill.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, proposed an amendment that would add a provision allowing the Catawba Indians to open a video bingo parlor in Santee. Sen. John Land, D-Clarendon, offered another that would cut taxes for some small corporations.

Reach Talhelm at (803) 771-8339 or jtalhelm@thestate.com