For a red state, we sure like to raise taxes.

[W_HAMILTON]

I'm here in Horry county, and it looks like another sales tax increase is going into effect in the next few days.

I believe that is the second increase in the past few years, both of which I believe voters VOTED to enact.

Can anyone explain that to me? For a bunch of people that bitch and moan about taxes, they sure love voting to increase them.

[SCantiGOP]

1. blame the state legislature

They are cutting back on funding for local government funding, such as public education, and putting more and more mandates on local governments to perform certain functions. That way they can come home and run for re-election with the purity of never having voted for a tax increase, and the public is too stupid to see through that.

[raccoon]

2. Were the property taxes lowered when the voters voted on this sales tax increase?

Sometimes that's the way it goes.

[SCantiGOP]

3. yes

several years ago, a non-profit foundation that looks at the efficiency of a state's tax policies (ignoring whether they are in the aggregate too high or too low) rated SC in the top 5 because they had almost a perfect balance among property, income and sales taxes. Now, property taxes have been slashed and replaced with sales taxes. 2 results: when a recession, even a mild one, hits the sales tax plummets; and the tax burden is effectively shifted from property owners (who tend to be wealthier) to the poor. That is why sales tax is called a regressive tax. The shortfall in SC's budget is almost exactly the same as the amount the property tax was cut.