FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 29, 2011

Contact: Greg Foster
(803) 734-3125
gregfoster@schouse.gov
                                                                                                                                                
$3 Billion Tax Hike Case in Court Today
SC Supreme Court hears arguments for & against backdoor tax increase

(Columbia, SC) – Today, the SC Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could result in a recurring $3 billion tax increase and 50 percent growth to our state’s budget.  Representing the plaintiffs in this case – who initiated this lawsuit by suing our state – the sitting Chairman of the SC Democratic Party has also been acting as lead spokesman for the plaintiffs in this effort to use the Court system to implement their vision of tax policy. 

They are asking the Court to declare all sales tax exemptions unconstitutional, therefore adding a new 6 percent tax to every South Carolinian’s grocery bill, electricity bill, water bill, prescription drug bill and more.  Stated in legal briefs filed with the Court, the plaintiffs openly base their argument against these exemptions on their belief that South Carolina’s taxes are too low and that these exempted dollars should be used to dramatically increase government spending – growing the state’s General Fund budget by 50 percent in a single year. 

House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, “This is simply the Democratic Party trying to get a $3 billion tax hike from the Court because they have repeatedly failed to get their tax increase agenda past Republicans in the General Assembly.  The potential ramifications of this case are very real and unfortunately have flown under the public radar with the true facts of this case receiving little media coverage.”

The SC House and Senate jointly filed an amicus brief (known as a “Friend of the Court” brief) in this case detailing the legal reasons why such major rewriting of tax law policy must be addressed by the Legislative Branch, not legislated from the bench, and why the partisan arguments made by the plaintiffs held no merit. 

After attending today’s Court session, Speaker Harrell commented, “Together, the House and Senate decided that we had to get actively involved in this case to defend South Carolinians from a $3 billion backdoor tax increase that includes no reforms and no corresponding tax relief.  This lawsuit isn’t about our ongoing tax reform efforts or even about making our state more competitive – this belief by the Democratic Party that taxes should be higher and government should control more of our lives is a direct partisan assault, not reform.  And in their arguments made before the Court today, the plaintiffs made it clear that their mission is to raise taxes in an effort to bypass the conservative Legislature our citizens elected.”