Budget fails to address priorities

The only apparent priority for most state lawmakers is not raising taxes. The result is a budget in which all the real priorities end up in the losers column.

The Legislature had $1.2 billion more to spend this year thanks to higher-than-expected revenue growth. Nonetheless, lawmakers chose to shortchange K-12 education, higher education and county governments.

Lawmakers gave considerable lip service to the states’ crumbling roads, but the outcome was an inadequate short-term fix that doesn’t begin to address serious infrastructure problems. The plan also takes $300 million from the general fund rather than raise the state gasoline tax.

The shortfall in funding for schools and counties not only is shortsighted, it also defies state law. State law sets the amount the Legislature is required to spend per pupil each year. Next fiscal year, per-pupil spending will increase to $2,350, but that still is $583 a student below the required level.

Higher education also fares poorly. Current funding for the state’s technical colleges, four-year colleges and universities is $245 million lower that it was before the Great Recession. While lawmakers propose raising spending by about $170 million, that’s still $75 million less than higher ed received before the recession.

The likely result is increased tuition and fees for college students.

The Senate was intent on blocking any increase in the state’s gas tax. But that meant the stingy $300 million allocated to roads and bridges had to come out of added revenues that could have been spent on education or local services.

Focusing solely on keeping taxes low is a dangerous form of myopia. While this approach is based on the premise that low tax rates are necessry to attract new business to the state, that ignores all the other factors that prospective companies consider when deciding where to invest.

The businesses the state hopes to attract also are interested in quality education for the children of their employees and decent roads for transporting materials and goods. They want adequate local services, including law enforcement, fire protection, garbage pickup and emergency medical assistance.

Companies want a well educated and trained work force. They want consumers who have good jobs and make enough money to buy their products.

Lawmakers easily could have raised the state’s 16.75-cent gasoline tax, which hasn’t been raised in more than 25 years, while still remaining competitive with neighboring states on the price of a gallon of gas. And much of the money raised by the tax – nearly a third a third, according to estimates by the S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office – would be paid by visitors to the state.

Unfortunately, the phobia over taxes, spurred on by money from out-of-state billionaires, has resulted in a failure to sustain fundamental needs and services, as exemplified by the new budget. That’s not good for business in South Carolina or for the people who live here.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Budget fails to address priorities."