Thanks to the SC Board of Economic Advisors (BEA), the General Assembly has even more money to spend.
Last week the BEA projected an unprecedented $4.628 billion in additional recurring and non-recurring revenue available for fiscal year 2023, which runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
The BEA now projects $1.519 billion in additional recurring revenue, which is $621 million more than its November 2021 forecast. And it now projects a whopping $3.109 billion in additional non-recurring, “one shot” revenue, or $921 million more than the November forecast.
The state also has about $2.5 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to spend as well as $525 million from the Savannah River Site settlement.
Last week the governor and House Republicans proposed $1 billion in income tax cuts that in five years would drop the top rate from 7% to 6%. Not to be outdone, Senate Finance Chair Harvey Peeler (R-Cherokee) proposed a $2 billion income tax cut that would drop the state’s top tax rate down to 5.7%. He also wants to give taxpayers a one-time rebate totaling $1 billion.
This week the Senate Finance Committee will take up a bill that now includes steep penalties for private employers who terminate an employee for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R-Edgefield) proposed an amendment to a House bill that prohibits vaccine mandates by public employers, to make private employers pay a surcharge for each of the next four years equal to 10 times the highest unemployment insurance tax rate, or $7,644, per employee they terminate or suspend for failing to comply with a company mandate.
Washington update