Columbia, S.C. - April 14, 2005 - On the day before thousands of South Carolina small businesses are required to file their state income tax returns, Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law H. 3007, a bill that will cut the state income tax rate for small businesses from 7% to 5% over the next four years. One component of the governor's broader income tax relief proposal, income tax relief for small businesses will result in roughly $200 million being sent back into our state's economy where it will help grow jobs, not government.

"I've got a message for every small business in South Carolina filing its tax return tomorrow - government's reach into your pockets is about to get a good bit shorter," Gov. Sanford. "I've also got a message for every South Carolinian who's going to file their tax returns tomorrow - we're coming back next year and asking for what the Senate ultimately didn't give you this year. I want to make it perfectly clear that income tax relief for every taxpayer in this state will continue to be this administration's top priority moving forward."

The governor's broader income tax relief plan, part of his five-point "Contract for Change" with the people of South Carolina, passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly in each of the past two years but stalled in the State Senate. Despite the fact that over $600 million in new revenue is headed to state government in this coming fiscal year alone, the Senate refused to set aside a larger portion of surplus government revenues to tax relief for individual taxpayers.

"We've essentially got over half a billion dollars in new revenue coming into our state this year," Gov. Sanford said. "As a fiscal conservative, I believe very simply that giving more of that money back to the taxpayers is critical not only to creating economic growth, but also to slowing the growth of government. We've got the third-highest unemployment rate in the country and our personal income levels continue to lag behind the rest of the nation. To me, that means we've got to start hitting on every economic development engine that's out there.

"Obviously, small businesses are a huge economic engine in South
Carolina, but we've got do something to engage the retirees,
management teams and individual taxpayers that are also responsible for
fueling economic growth in our state."