Sanford focused on the ongoing problem with unemployment throughout portions of the Palmetto State as well the need to make changes to lower the state’s income tax.
“We still have a job problem, but we also have an income problem,” he said. “We’re about 80 percent the U.S. average in personal income.”
All of that ultimately ties into growth, Sanford said, and the ever-growing necessity to be competitive on an international level. He cited Sonoco Products Co. in Hartsville as an example of a company that has been “remarkably adaptive” in competing with the global environment.
The ability to easily relay and receive information in today’s market also has had a huge effect, Sanford said.
“Globalization and the Internet have drastically changed our world,” he said.
Just as manufacturing jobs were hard hit by international competition in years past, Sanford said he sees the next wave to challenge South Carolinians will focus on service sector jobs, more so from largely English-speaking India rather than China.
“We are in an international competition for jobs and investment in a way we’ve never been before,” he said. “China is just the tip of the iceberg.”
In the end, small businesses make up the backbone of the state and nation, Sanford said, and building more wealth in South Carolina means having more of them headquartered here. It will also help, he said, to give rural areas in the state a bigger voice that is often drowned out by the three primary hubs of Greenville, Columbia and Charleston.
Government restructuring, a less than successful measure last year, will take a more piecemeal approach this time around, Sanford said, with respect to such concerns including health care and education.
Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville, said afterward he thought some of the proposals merited further discussion and debate.
“Restructuring fell under its own weight,” he said. “I don’t know if there are any quick fixes, but he wants to make changes. These are not new problems, but you have to start with a thought process that he has put forth.”
Rep. Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, said he believes Sanford’s efforts to reintroduce the income tax relief measure constituted an especially important point.
“I think it’s very important to get money into people’s hands so they can go ahead and support small businesses,” he said. “When you look at other states, ours is clearly much higher.”
Communication is ultimately the key, Sanford said, urging those present to keep him apprised of their questions and concerns.
“Things don’t change in Columbia unless people want them to change,” he said.
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