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State Agencies Claim Taxpayers’ Refunds to Collect Debts
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Over the last five years, state agencies, including public colleges and a university hospital system, collected a total of nearly $95 million in past-due payments through deductions from state income-tax refunds, records reviewed by The Nerve show.
A little-known state law, titled the “Setoff Debt Collection Act” (SDCA), allows state and local government agencies, “quasi-governmental” agencies and private colleges to seek deductions from income tax refunds by filing claims with the S.C. Department of Revenue.
The department recently provided The Nerve with collection records from 2016 through last year under the state Freedom of Information Act. This story examines collections by state agencies only.
- Hits: 1743
Lawmakers Approve Massive State Budget Stuffed with Pork Projects
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Lawmakers on Monday sent a strong message in adopting a state budget for the fiscal year that starts next week.
Let the spending party begin – with your tax dollars.
The Legislature overwhelmingly approved a $32.3 billion total budget for fiscal 2022, which includes state, federal and “other” funds, budget records show. Not included in that amount, according to the official “summary control document,” was $176 million in earlier approved spending from the state capital reserve fund, mainly for maintenance, renovation and other building projects at public colleges and universities.
- Hits: 5938
Santee Cooper Board Still Has Expired, Vacant Seats Despite ‘Reform’ Law
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Of the 12 seats on the board governing state-owned utility Santee Cooper, two are vacant while seven members are serving past their expired terms.
A new law that purportedly will reform Santee Cooper – pushed by lawmakers after they couldn’t decide to sell the debt-burdened utility – doesn’t change the selection process for board members, though it allows the utility to offer them state health insurance benefits on top of their salaries.
- Hits: 1598
Lawmakers Bypassing Normal Budget Process to Spend $600M Settlement
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Proceeds from a $600 million settlement with the federal government over plutonium storage in South Carolina weren’t included in any state budget versions crafted by lawmakers for the upcoming fiscal year.
But that doesn’t mean they aren’t planning to spend the massive windfall.
Last month, a joint resolution was quietly introduced in the Senate to spend the settlement funds, though the proposal didn’t contain any specifics on who would receive the money or how much of it would be appropriated. The “shell” resolution was sponsored by longtime Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and was referred to his budget-writing committee.
- Hits: 1708
Holes Still Exist In DOT’s Pothole Numbers
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
The number of potholes that the S.C. Department of Transportation claims it patched statewide jumped by more than 300,000 over the last four fiscal years, according to agency annual reports.
The Nerve has reported that DOT’s annual numbers in recent years were merely estimates. But DOT now says the 678,984 potholes it filled during fiscal 2020 was an actual count, according to records provided by the agency under the state Freedom of Information Act.
- Hits: 1404
House Poised to Spend Millions More on Pork Projects
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
The S.C. House this week could pass a revised version of the fiscal 2022 state budget, which includes $1.8 billion in “new” state funding.
But the total $32.1 billion budget version passed last week by the House Ways and Means Committee doesn’t authorize any refunds to state taxpayers.
Budget writers, however, designated millions for pet projects in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
- Hits: 1383
U.S. Rep. Mace Among Those Owing S.C. House Ethics Fines
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Ex-S.C. House member Nancy Mace, who was elected last year to Congress, owes a $5,100 civil fine imposed by the state House Ethics Committee for a campaign reporting violation related to her former position, according to an updated fines list released this week after The Nerve’s inquiry.
The list, updated Tuesday on the Legislature’s website, shows that Mace, a Berkeley County Republican who was elected to the S.C. House in a 2018 special election, was fined on Jan. 21 of this year for “late/not filed campaign disclosure.” The status of the $5,100 fine was listed as “unsatisfied,” or unpaid.
- Hits: 1515
Louisiana Joins Arkansas and Alabama in Establishing a Day of Tears
- By Christian Newswire
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Senate Concurrent Resolution 38 (SCR 38), designating January 22, 2022 as the Day of Tears in Louisiana, has passed both the Senate and the House, and has been sent to the Secretary of State.
Sponsored by Senator and President Pro Tempore, Beth Mizell, (R-Franklinton), SCR 38 encourages citizens of Louisiana to lower their flags in remembrance of those who have been lost to abortion. Louisiana joins Alabama and Arkansas in adopting the Day of Tears.
- Hits: 1334
SCDOT Says It Will Fix Nearly 1,000 More Miles of Bad Roads. More Empty Promises?
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Motorists likely will feel plenty of bumps this Memorial Day weekend as they drive over South Carolina’s seemingly endless pothole-riddled roads.
Since the state gas-tax-hike law took effect nearly four years ago, The Nerve has repeatedly pointed out the S.C. Department of Transportation’s relatively slow pace of completing paving projects while sitting on massive reserves generated with the extra revenues.
Now, the agency is proposing a “Pavement Improvement Program” for fiscal 2021-22, which calls for an additional 683 repaving or reconstruction projects statewide totaling about 977 miles. Last week, the DOT Commission approved a 21-day public comment period on the proposal.
- Hits: 1491
Feds Giving SC More Covid Money – Without Clear Spending Instructions
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Local governments in South Carolina are expected to collectively receive hundreds of millions more in federal COVID-19 relief funding, though what exactly that money can be spent on is unclear.
The U.S. Department of Treasury last week adopted an “interim final rule” on the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding. But local government spokespersons told The Nerve this week their municipalities haven’t yet received the funds or specific guidance on how the money can be used, though the law authorizing the funding is more than two months old.
- Hits: 2366
Two Lawmakers Rack up Thousands in Unpaid Ethics Fines
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
Since 2015, two sitting House members have owed thousands in civil fines after receiving public reprimands for campaign reporting violations, records reviewed by The Nerve show.
Rep. Cezar McKnight, D-Williamsburg, who is an attorney, owes $59,150.88 to the Senate Ethics Committee, committee lawyer J.J. Gentry said in an initial written response in January to The Nerve, citing information from the S.C. Department of Revenue.
Out of a total $60,190 in fines imposed against McKnight, $1,039.12, or less than 2%, had been collected, Gentry said then – though the amount was not paid directly to the Ethics Committee but instead was collected through SCDOR’s debt-collection program, which involves deductions from income tax refunds.
- Hits: 1498
State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets for 2021
- By Katherine Loughead - Tax Foundation
Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for 38 percent of state tax collections.[1] Their prominence in public policy considerations is further enhanced in that individuals are actively responsible for filing their income taxes, in contrast to the indirect payment of sales and excise taxes.
Click HERE to read more ...
- Hits: 1311
Taxpayers on Hook for Road- and Bridge-Naming Legislation
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
S.C. lawmakers routinely approve naming road sections and bridges for living or deceased persons, including ex-legislators and other former public officials.
Not only does it take up a lot of collective time that could be spent working on larger, more pressing issues, but it also comes with a cost to taxpayers – and local roads.
A little-known state law requires that the cost to the S.C. Department of Transportation to produce and erect the new road and bridge signs be reimbursed largely from a state fund designated to repair local roads.
- Hits: 1294
Attorney With Ties To SC Senator Wins Judgeship
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
An attorney who works in a state senator’s law firm is Spartanburg County’s new master-in-equity judge – less than three months after the county’s legislative delegation, of which the senator is a member, quietly nominated her.
The Senate and House this week confirmed Shannon Phillips, an attorney in Sen. Scott Talley’s law firm, for the judgeship after Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to a six-year term, based on the delegation’s recommendation.
Talley, R-Spartanburg, was appointed to the state judicial screening committee just two months before the legislatively controlled panel in November qualified Phillips for the seat held by Gordon Cooper, whose term expires June 30.
- Hits: 2089
Day of Tears Resolution Sails Through Louisiana Senate
- By Christian Newswire
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Senate Concurrent Resolution 38 (SCR 38), designating January 22, 2022 as the Day of Tears in Louisiana, passed the senate yesterday unanimously.
Sponsored by Senator and President Pro Tempore, Beth Mizell, (R-Franklinton), SCR 38 encourages the citizen of Louisiana to lower their flags in remembrance of those who have been lost to abortion. Louisiana joins Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi as the latest state to consider adopting the Day of Tears.
- Hits: 1259
Big government grows with new state agencies
- By Rick Brundrett - The Nerve
No matter who’s in charge, state government in South Carolina just keeps getting bigger.
Three stand-alone state agencies created since Republican Henry McMaster became governor in 2017 – the departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Children’s Advocacy, and the newest agency, the Office of Resilience – would have combined total budgets of $173 million for next fiscal year, under the state budget version passed last week by the Senate.
- Hits: 1193
- Gas-Tax-Hike Piggy Bank Keeps Growing Fatter
- Senators Pushing Plenty of Pork Pprojects Through Taxpayer-Funded Earmarks
- Stanton Healthcare Applauds Idaho Governor, Brad Little, for Signing 'Heartbeat Bill'
- SCDOT Denies Most Pothole-Damage Claims by Motorists
- Lawmakers Pushing for More Power in Home Counties