So, The Buzz was reading one of our regional cousins last week, when we came across an observation from Gov. Mark Sanford that caught our eye.

Sanford was talking specifically about Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s failed attempt to get voters there to go along with a billion-dollar tax increase package.

In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sanford said the real problem with Riley’s plan was it was just too darn complex.

“You better keep it simple, stupid,” Sanford is quoted as saying.

Simple you say? Well, for those of you trying to follow along at home, here’s a refresher on Sanford’s own tax plan, which failed to get through the General Assembly this year.

The basics are easy enough: Increase the tax on cigarettes and then lower the state income tax from 7 percent to 5 percent over 15 years. With us so far? Good.

But it’s not as simple as lowering the tax rate by two percentage points.

Those are actually tax credits that only take effect if revenue grows or personal income grows or something like that grows at a fast enough rate to keep up with expenses.

The Buzz wanted to hear more from the Guv on the matter, and to his credit, he did not call us stupid. Instead, he picked up a cheap pen and held it at about a 45-degree angle and started talking about state income in South Carolina growing at a 6 percent clip annually.

He also pointed out that it involves pulling out a “dividend” from that growth and using it to give tax credits to individuals to lower their tax rate from 7 to 5 percent, but only in years when state income grows at a faster than historical level.

Simple.