Poll: SCPC readers strongly favor tax and judicial reforms, expanding school choice

Major policy reforms sit at critical junctures in the S.C. Statehouse. With less than two weeks left in the regular 2023-24 legislative session, we found that many have the strong support of South Carolinians hoping to see them cross the finish line.

The data comes from an internal survey of Policy Council readers conducted in late April. The online poll covered a range of topics that include taxes and spending, judicial reform, government transparency, taxpayer-funded incentives and school choice.

Cutting taxes was the top issue among readers when asked about their biggest current priority. The result is timely, as the S.C. Senate recently approved a budget plan that would double this year’s personal income tax cut and take the top tax rate from 6.4% to 6.2%. Accelerating tax relief is a top policy item on SCPC’s Roadmap to Reform.

When it comes to inflation and the rising cost of goods, our survey found that 91% of respondents were very or somewhat concerned with their family’s ability to pay their bills.

Below are the survey results, sorted by category.

TAXES AND SPENDING

When told of a pot of $1.8 billion of unknown origin sitting in a state bank account, which to date has not been publicly claimed by any state agency, 85% said they strongly or somewhat support the idea of returning the money to taxpayers in the form of one-time rebates.
85% said it is very or somewhat important that the proposal to double this year’s personal income tax cut, taking the top tax rate from 6.4% to 6.2% (rather than to 6.3%), pass into law.
99% said it is very or somewhat important that state agencies summarize and justify their entire proposed budgets each year, including funding they currently receive and new spending requests.
57% said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of using taxpayer dollars to fund incentive deals to recruit companies to South Carolina.
95% strongly or somewhat agreed that the public should have more transparency when it comes to using taxpayer dollars to recruit companies to South Carolina.

LEGAL REFORM

78% said they strongly or somewhat support giving another authority such as the governor some appointments to the commission responsible for screening and nominating SC judicial candidates. (For context, readers were told that three lawmakers currently control all the appointments to the commission.)
95% said that they strongly or somewhat support requiring the meetings to screen and interview judicial candidates to be livestreamed and archived to increase transparency.
92% strongly or somewhat agreed that lawmakers should pass legislation to end a loophole that allows local magistrate judges to serve for years beyond the expiration of their statutory terms.
94% said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of allowing lawyer-lawmakers to present cases in front of judges they helped to the bench.
90% strongly or somewhat agreed that liability in civil cases should be based on fault, not ability to pay.
89% said they strongly or somewhat approve of a bill under consideration that would revise the law so that more qualified judicial candidates can be nominated per open seat.

SCHOOL CHOICE

84% strongly or somewhat agreed that South Carolina should do more to expand school choice options for parents.
86% said they strongly or somewhat support a bill under consideration that would let more parents enroll their children outside of their normally designated schools, if space and teaching resources are available.
When told of the following school-choice proposal, 62% said they strongly or somewhat approve of it: “Last year, South Carolina enacted a scholarship program to help some low and middle-income students attend private schools of their choice, or cover the cost of tutoring, textbooks and other education expenses. A bill now under consideration would expand the program and remove its income restrictions, making it available to more students.”
96% strongly or somewhat agreed that South Carolina local school boards should be required to livestream their public meetings on the internet for transparency and accountability.

OTHER

98% said it is very or somewhat important that government meetings are livestreamed to the public.
When told of a bill under consideration that would prohibit S.C. colleges and universities from making admissions or hiring decisions based on an applicant’s political views or support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, 88% said they strongly or somewhat approve of the proposal.
76% said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of colleges and universities requiring faculty members to participate in mandatory diversity training programs.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and left thoughtful comments. Your input is incredibly valuable to the work we do. It is also timely as we approach the end of the regular session and work to assemble this year’s Legislative Scorecard. You can find our 2023 Legislative Scorecard here.