GoUpstate.com This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.goupstate.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.


Back
Article published May 9, 2003
Senators should cut spending rather than raise taxes

Senators debating the state budget this week have been divided over one basic question: Should the state cut spending to deal with the revenue shortfall, or should it increase taxes in order to keep state spending higher?
The answer is that the state should cut its spending until the economy improves, driving up state revenues.
The state should not increase taxes so that it can keep state spending at previous levels. But many senators are advocating that.
Earlier this week, the debate centered around raising the state sales tax 2 percent. The Senate looked likely to pass the increase, except that senators couldn't agree on what to do with the money.
Republicans in the Senate wanted to spend some of the money on education but use the bulk of the revenue from the increased sales tax to reduce property taxes.
Democrats were willing to give a small amount to reducing property taxes, but they wanted most of the money to go toward restoring state spending levels.
The fight has made an increase in the state sales tax less likely, although senators have bickered over that and other tax increases for the rest of the week.
The state is in a budget crisis because of the poor economy and because of the way lawmakers increased state spending during the years of economic growth.
It is important during this economic downturn that we recognize that part of the problem is the previous growth in the size of state government. The decreased budget is an opportunity to trim the size of the government, not to take more money from struggling South Carolinians in order to feed the continued growth of the government.
If Democrats in the Senate were successful in increasing taxes to fund higher spending, Palmetto State families and businesses would have to further sacrifice to keep state government growing.
And what would happen when the economy eventually improved? Would those taxes be rolled back? It's not likely. What is likely is that lawmakers would go on yet another spending binge, creating new programs, new bureaucracies and extending the size and cost of state government even further.
Senators should pare spending during lean economic years and refrain from straining family budgets in order to speed up the cycle of government growth.