By Andy Brack
About this time every year since 2009, we implore state lawmakers to look at South Carolina’s big picture and do the work that will make life better for most people – those whose taxes pay the government’s bills.
We’ve suggested 10 or 12 annual policy initiatives, or Palmetto Priorities. We urge elected officials to use them as a basis to do more than pass an annual budget and make bureaucratic changes that seem little more than moving the deck chairs of state government. Through the years, we’ve cut two priorities after legislators boosted the state’s cigarette tax to curb smoking and after they made changes to boost voter registration.
But too often, they failed to develop and pass common-sense policies on everything from improving education to making the taxing system fairer. Rather, they played culture wars. They spouted conservative talking points. They squabbled over abortion, guns, vouchers and the interests of special interests.
So for 2025, let’s update our annual Palmetto Priorities with a few new thoughts, particularly on education, climate and taxes.
Education
Spend $1 billion in new money by 2030 to build more schools and offer more scholarships. This year, the state is looking to make starting salaries for public school teachers to be $50,000. That’s solid, but is it enough to fix education? Are there enough scholarships to make sure there are a sufficient number of new teachers in the pipeline? Are there facilities where teachers can do what they’re trained for and get the most out of their students?
Climate
Require state economic development investments to be linked to reducing carbon emissions. If a business wants to move into South Carolina and receive special tax breaks or any government help, it should have a low-carbon footprint. The state needs to develop significant climate strategies, from planting more trees and boosting alternative energy sources to limiting new infrastructure for businesses to concentrated areas.
Gun reform
Close the “Charleston loophole.” South Carolinians continue to wait for legislators to do their job to make reasonable gun reform after the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. They must extend the waiting period for purchasing a gun to at least five days to allow federal examiners more time for background checks. Failure to act has been just plain embarrassing. It’s time to get this job done to help reduce gun violence that is killing almost 1,000 South Carolinians a year. Lax gun laws are one reason why the state has the sixth-highest rate of gun violence in the nation.
Poverty
Develop a broad anti-poverty agenda. Legislators should use budgets in new ways to fund reduction of endemic poverty in South Carolina, with strategies that include developing more jobs, applying more workforce training, improving education and making health care more accessible. One in five South Carolinians lives in poverty. We can do better by them.
Tax reform
Overhaul the state’s antiquated tax structure. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if South Carolina modernized its tax structure so sales taxes could go down, use taxes could be broader and the state could recover hundreds of millions of dollars in lost taxes due to special-interest sales tax exemptions? Lawmakers should stop being scared of broadening the base and lowering rates.
Politics
Innovate away from structures that encourage political gamesmanship. We’ve got to get rid of gerrymandering and one-party rule, both of which are continuing recipes for disaster. There’s so much more that state lawmakers can do – from expanding Medicaid to offer access to health care to tens of thousands to focusing more on small businesses instead of trying to land big whales for jobs. Maybe we can celebrate next year if state legislators think broader and act bigger in 2025.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
