Submitted By Spring Valley West Precinct, Richland County

WHEREAS, the framers of the Constitution prohibited taxation of income and the products of one’s labor, and that prohibition remained for the first 127 years of the existence of this country;

and WHEREAS, there is a large and growing body of economic evidence that conclusively demonstrates that taxing income reduces economic activity below what it otherwise would have been;

and WHEREAS, there are no credible economic analyses which conclude that taxing income increases economic growth;

and WHEREAS, unemployment in SC in December 2010 was 10.7% versus a national average of 9.4% and has been above the national average every year since 2001;

and WHEREAS, of the eleven states which adopted an income tax on their citizens over the past 50 years, the citizens of all those states experienced a decline in their standards of living compared to the national average as measured by per capita income;

and WHEREAS, significant reductions in the marginal income tax rates enacted during the administrations of Presidents Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush resulted in extended periods of robust economic growth;

and WHEREAS, the United States Congress in December 2010 in a bipartisan vote extended current tax rates rather than allowing them to increase, because the increases would have substantial negative impacts on economic growth rates;

and WHEREAS, the current SC Sales and Use Tax has over 70 categories of exemptions, exclusions, and limits, and these vary over the course of the year creating confusion and an unnecessary burden on retailers;

and WHEREAS, the citizens of SC demand a tax code that taxes all transactions at one rate for all products and services that will be the most efficient to implement, administer, and collect. BE IT RESOLVED that the SC Republican Party urges all members of the Legislature to actively support and work for enactment of the SC Fair Tax Act in the General Assembly.