TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

South Carolina Tax: Filibuster threat on tax help eased

The chief opponent of tax incentives for the proposed Okatie Crossings shopping center on Thursday backed away from a threatened filibuster - as long as fellow lawmakers stick to a strict compromise.

State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, says he won't filibuster if the legislation reverts to the Senate version should the bill come up when lawmakers reconvene briefly June 15. The bill would allow Hardeeville to provide incentives by imposing a local-option sales tax at many of the proposed project's shops.

The legislation did not come up Thursday, the final day of lawmakers' regular session.

Davis said he thinks he has succeeded at making a "horrible" idea much "less bad" for Beaufort County and the state.

Eager to jump-start the economy in a relatively poor, rural region, lawmakers previously considered returning state sales taxes to the developers of the center.

Davis needed to threaten a filibuster to gain assurances that House and Senate leaders would not push for incentives other than a limited version senators agreed to in March, he said. He opposes retail incentives and doubts how many new sales or jobs the center would create.

"It's going to be the Senate version or nothing," Davis said. "I really can't ask for more than that."

Davis said state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland, probably will move for the bill to be considered when lawmakers return to Columbia later this month.

Pinckney could not be reached for comment but said earlier that day he believed lawmakers will "work something out." "My hope is to get a bill passed that can lead to a developer looking at a site," he said.

Davis said House members have told him the Senate's version, which requires developers to meet job creation and capital investment thresholds to recoup limited infrastructure costs, is "not a worthwhile incentive."