Want A Solvent Retirement System?

In 2009, the Policy Council released a report highlighting issues surrounding the risks of depressing future asset growth and health care costs for the South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS). In 2010, we followed up that report with ten recommendations for reform that wouldn’t require total overhaul of the system. Here’s a quick overview: SCRS’s financial [...]

Is the ‘Incentives Game’ Worth It?

In South Carolina, 2011 turned out to be a watershed year in at least one respect. For the first time, the merits of government-driven “economic development,” and especially the use of economic “incentives,” became the subject of serious and widespread public debate. Before this year, politicians and other officials could speak of using “incentives” to [...]

SC’s Tax Structure: Good, Bad, or Just Plain Awful?

In recent months, some of our state lawmakers have spoken of South Carolina’s tax structure as if it’s the lowest, most business-friendly in the world. Some, indeed, have claimed we have the “lowest taxes in the nation.” But before you take the hype at face value, consider: 1) South Carolina does not have the “lowest taxes [...]

Financial Coercion: Federal Control of South Carolina’s Entitlements

Part of the Obama administration’s stimulus bill established unemployment “incentive grants” to states who “modernize” (translation: expand) unemployment benefit eligibility. Any state whose law coheres with federal standards could receive the money. For South Carolina, the federal government offered $97 million dollars in federal funds if – and only if – state lawmakers changed state law to expand unemployment benefit eligibility.

The Clyburn Center Mess: A Multimillion Dollar Catastrophe

The James E. Clyburn University Transportation Research and Conference Center at South Carolina State University is a $107 million dollar project. The complex was intended to serve as a transportation research center, a research facility for large trucks, the archive of James Clyburn’s papers, and a garage for Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority’s bus fleet. However, two reports, one by the Charleston Post and Courier and one by the Legislative Audit Council, reveal the incredible extent of the Clyburn Center’s failure. The project is sputtering along with no viable funding plan, delayed construction, and poor oversight. The story of the Clyburn Center is a melancholy illustration of the fact that federal money isn’t “free” money: indeed, in many cases it costs the state millions of wasted tax dollars.

SC’s Health Planning Committee Recommends Against a State Exchange

In recent months, the South Carolina Health Planning Committee has seen presentations by industry experts, academics, lawyers, consultants, and insurance companies on the state’s health insurance market. Its charge? To make policy recommendations regarding the establishment of a health insurance exchange in South Carolina, as outlined within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). [...]

Unfunny: South Carolina’s Job-Destroying Regulations

In 2004, Jon Stewart’s Daily Show featured South Carolina in a hilarious segment about the state’s absurd regulations on hair braiding. That’s right. Regulations on hair braiding. The segment featured an interview with the head of the South Carolina Board of Cosmetology, who expressed her concerns about “harm to the public” stemming from unlicensed hair braiders. [...]

The Matthew Lesko Approach to Economic Development

The federal government is trying to run the U.S. economy – and South Carolina is helping out by taking federal grants for “economic development.” Why? Because it’s free money from the government! But is that always a good thing?

Is Economic Development the Job of a University?

Our taxpayer-supported colleges and universities should get back to their mission of educating young people – and leave economic development to the market.

Fast Facts: ‘Prepared in Mind and Resources?’

The Policy Council and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni recently took a look at the state’s higher education system. What we found was bad news for taxpayers . . .