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Article published Apr 13, 2005
Legislature sends tax bill to Sanford
COLUMBIA --
It's not the plan that he wanted, but heading to Gov. Mark Sanford's desk is a
bill that lowers the income tax rate for small businesses from 7 percent to 5
percent over four years.Sanford was pushing a plan to reduce the income tax rate
from 7 percent to 4.75 percent over 10 years.But concerns over the cost of the
proposal, $1 billion a year when fully implemented, led the Senate to choose
another option -- reducing the rate for small businesses to 5 percent over four
years at a cost of $129 million per year.The House originally passed Sanford's
plan, but on Tuesday agreed to the changes implemented by the Senate."We went
with the bird in the hand," said House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith,
R-Spartanburg. "I wouldn't have thought at the beginning of the year that we'd
get any type of income tax relief through the Senate. I commend them."Sen. Jim
Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, called the bill a good first step."This is a very
important targeted tax cut to create small business jobs," Ritchie said. "If
it's successful, it will pave the way to broader based tax cuts."Michael Fields,
the state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said
Tuesday was a great day for small businesses."The governor gets all the credit
as far as I'm concerned," Fields said. "This is good for business and good for
all South Carolinians."Getting the bill through the Legislature was a victory
for Sanford. Reducing taxes has been one of his top priorities.He said the tax
cut would make small businesses more competitive."Three years ago nobody in
state government was talking about income tax relief," Sanford said. "Today,
we're providing it to a vital sector of our state's economy. That's an
accomplishment I'm obviously very pleased with."Sanford wanted the broader cuts
because he said they would spur economic development, create jobs and lure
executives and wealthy retirees to the state.He said he would continue to fight
for his plan."Make no mistake, getting that done will continue to be the top
legislative priority of this administration" Sanford said."Given the fact that
we've got $600 million in new money coming into state government this year
alone, I'm frankly a bit disappointed the Senate didn't devote a serious portion
of this to tax relief for all South Carolinians."Robert W. Dalton can be reached
at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.