From the daily archives:

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

South Carolina ranks in the bottom one-third of states in terms of tax burden.

That why the Tax realignment Commission, also known as TRAC, has been busy for the last two months reviewing South Carolina’s tax structure. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday in the state Senate office building and up to three more meetings are scheduled through January and the beginning of the legislative session.

Previous meetings have involved testimony from invited officials but during certain future meetings members of the public will be allowed to speak.

That effort is being chaired by Bernie Maybank, who says change is needed in sales tax.  “First of all, it’s unfair that Main Street South Carolina has to pay it and some of South Carolina’s competitors don’t have to pay it,”  said Maybank. 

And he says existing exemptions are not fair to all concerned.  ”Some South Carolina businesses have managed to get exemptions and some have not.  It’s an equity issue,” said Maybank.  “For instance, time shares have exempted themselves from a host of taxes while rentals have not.”    [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Sumter High pays tribute to veterans on regular basis

by Susan Trautsch 11/11/09 5:50 PM

The Sumter area is home to many of South Carolina’s soldiers and veterans. The Sumter High school “Hands on History” class, under the leadership of Sammy Way, has conducted extensive research on the veterans in the Sumter community and are opening to the public a display of uniforms and nearly 1,000 photos of Sumter World [...]

Read the full article →

More arrests anticipated in DSS scheme

by William Christopher 11/11/09 5:27 PM

Officials in the US Attorney’s office say that even more arrests are expected in the case of the DSS embezzlement scheme, where $5.2 million was taken from the state agency. Former Department of Social Services Finance Director Paul Timothy Moore pleaded October 29th to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and [...]

Read the full article →

Grand Strand seniors forum to focus on health, environment

by Tom Hayes 11/11/09 5:19 PM

Seniors and community leaders are set to discuss and gather information on a number of health and quality of life issues at the “At Risk, the Health of South Carolina Seniors” forum in Myrtle Beach Thursday. The forum is sponsored by the South Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. Representatives from the South Carolina Department of [...]

Read the full article →

Ed. Dept. enhances statewide curriculum

by William Christopher 11/11/09 4:27 PM

Teachers and school administrators across South Carolina now have access to a resource designed to connect their teaching and learning to a set of state standards. It’s due to a new partnership between Anderson School District Five and the Department of Education.
The Anderson district developed its own school curriculum, which has been used and reworked [...]

Read the full article →