FEEDBACK

12/23: Need more than troopers to save lives on road

To the editor:

The traffic fatality situation only partially comes about because of too few troopers on the road. DPS is overloaded with civilian personal, paperwork and to many specialized jobs.
On top of that with the troop concept troopers take more time going to and from court and are patrolling much less and are not near as effective if stationed in individual counties.

Troopers are losing their identities and respect of the public because they don't have that personal contact that living in and mingling within a county provides. The public only sees them at critical times and in most cases people having to wait for hours for them to respond creates problems. The Courtesy may still be there but the efficiency and service simply is not.!

-- James Fleming Jr., Bennettsville, S.C.

12/16: You are wrong on taxation

To the editor:

Regarding your contention that I don’t pay too much in taxes compared to other states, I think you are wrong. I don’t dispute that real property tax on my owner-occupied home is close to that our neighboring states, but we are still higher. And there is no disputing that our state income tax rate is higher than North Carolina and Georgia. I do agree that our sales taxes are a bit lower than our neighbors.

But you are dead wrong when you factor in personal property. I have lived in both North Carolina and Georgia, our immediate neighbors, in the last five years. An automobile (that I still own) was taxed in Fulton County Georgia (one of the highest property tax areas of Georgia) at $80 a year when I left. The same automobile two years earlier in Forsyth County North Carolina was taxed at about $160. Today that car is 11 years old, has 148,000 miles on it, and Lexington County South Carolina taxes it at $280 a year. I own three cars and my total property tax bite on them is more than $2,000 a year. When you throw in personal property tax, which is often ignored, we take a lot bigger hit here in South Carolina than many people are willing to admit.

And by the way, I have owned similar homes in all three states in terms of value. The property taxes in North Carolina were definitely lower (and I was paying municipal taxes too). Georgia was about the same as my home here in Lexington, but since I bought my home in 2001 my property taxes have marched up 20%. That never happened anywhere else I lived.

You can make numbers say anything you want, but I have experience to make my comparison by. South Carolina over-taxes its citizens and to compound matters, we waste a lot it. It is time to stop talking about where new money for government is going to come from and time to start talking about how we are spending the money we have.

-- Michael E. Dey, Director of Government Affairs, South Carolina Association of REALTORS®

12/8: Good tax article

To the editor:

I thought your editorial (Dec. 7) about the fairness of SC's current tax system was good and well thought out. There is another point that I have not seen mentioned in anywhere, even though it should be an important consideration.

That is the role of federal taxes in the make-up. If we start with the assumption that the people of the state pay the taxes (yes, I know that tourists pay some portion, but by and large, taxes are paid by the residents of SC), then it makes sense to structure the tax system where whenever possible, the state taxes are deductible items when computing federal taxes.

I think the only state taxes that are deductible for federal purposes are income and property taxes. For every $100 in taxes the state needs, if the residents pay in the form of sales tax or some other form of use tax, then the after-tax cost to the resident is $100. If the state collects the same $100 in income tax, then the resident gets a benefit of $100 x the marginal federal tax rate. Many people have marginal federal rates in excess of 25%, so the after tax cost in my example is under $75. This means that far more capital stays in South Carolina.

With income or property taxes, the federal government is essentially contributing 15-35%, depending on the payer's tax bracket. Under a system where the state relies on sales tax, the federal government contributes nothing. This is one more reason why it is not smart to replace part of the income tax with sales or other use taxes.

-- David Pardue, Hilton Head Island, S.C.

11/7: Accountability is why superintendent should change

To the editor:

You missed the main point of why the head of the Dept. of Education should report to the Governor instead of the General Assembly (11/2 column). It's called Accountability. How can anyone be held accountable for their actions when they are accountable to so many
people. By this method, you increase rather than decrease the politics of education. Right now Ms. Tennenbaum (sic) and those before her report to everyone and no one. Is that not a recipe for arrogance and single mindedness. Perhaps this is why we have a Dept. of Education that is overloaded with Bureaucrats and why so many educational decisions
are made in Columbia and not in the Counties. Is this also the reason that the Charter School movement, while exploding in other states, is being thwarted here.

There is a lot more to the story that you are either being told or understand. In the future, do a little more research. Remember, over 60% of the state budget is for education. Is this not too much power entrusted in ONE individual?

-- Tom Hatfield, Hilton Head Island

11/2: Some appointments OK

To the editor:

I believe some appointments may be OK but others should be by the voters, for example: I would state that most magistrates have not been reappointed since their initial
appointment. Some Senators like to carry their appointments in their "hip pocket", where at the drop of a pin, he can remove that magistrate whenever he wants another one. That
process was in affect in Cherokee County in the early l990's and Senator Harvey S. Peeler, Jr., was successful in having a "rider" included in the budget that deleted any funds for Veterans Affairs Office as long as I was VA Officer

-- Boyd McLean, Gaffney, S.C.