Category: Research

As we review the best and worst property rights’ legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session. As our new…

Fast Facts: South Carolina’s Sales Tax   South Carolina needs sales tax reform that is equitable and encourages economic growth. The best way to achieve this goal is to lower…

As we review the best and worst tax and spending legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session. The big…

As we review thebest and worst tax and spending legislation of 2009,it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session.   The…

25 Ways to Unleash Capitalism in South Carolina Want to know 25 ways we can unleash opportunity, freedom and hope in South Carolina? Here are 25 ideas taken from the…

As we review the best and worst education legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session. There is…

The Best & Worst to Come: A Review of Transparency Policy for 2009-2010 As we review the best and worst transparency legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what…

When taxpayers were promised the $800 billion federal stimulus package was going to create jobs, few realized this meant more government jobs. Some government jobs – police officers and teachers,…

By Dr. Jameson Taylor Director of Research TRAC Testimony: November 12, 2009 Lower the Rate and Eliminate Sales Tax Exemptions South Carolina needs sales tax reform that is equitable and…

HOW SCHOOL CHOICE CAN CREATE JOBS FOR SOUTH CAROLINA AN EXPERIMENTAL CASE STUDY OF FIVE COUNTIES   Sven R. Larson, Ph.D. Our findings are based on the research of Russell…

South Carolina's Budget & Control Board (BCB) is a unique state agency, the only one of its kind in the country. While the Board itself is technically made up of…

As we review the best and worst environmental legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session. Following a…

As we review the best and worst environmental legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface during the 2010 session. Following a…

As the Policy Council has previously reported, South Carolina’s Medicaid spending has increased rapidly in recent years. South Carolina already spends more than 20 percent of its total $21 billion…

As we review the best and worst health care legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to remerge during the 2010 session. Since…

As we review the best and worst economic development legislation of 2009, it’s also time to begin to consider what ideas are likely to resurface in 2010. Politicians in South…

To entice legislators to send more money its way, the S.C. State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education will pay a Columbia advertising agency up to $200,000 to design a…

Authors: SCPC and Kevin Dietrich With the money Greenwood School District 52 spent on more than two dozen E-book reading devices this summer, it could have bought thousands of paperback…

Welcome to the inaugural publication of The S.C. General Assembly: Best & Worst of 2009. Our aim here is to highlight the best and worst ideas of the 2009 session.…

Instead of playing games with tax credits and economic development boondoggles, the best way for the state to attract new business is to lower taxes. In particular, lawmakers should eliminate…

By: Geoff Pallay and Kevin Dietrich Despite a lack of direction from federal officials, state agencies in South Carolina claim to be on track for complying with stimulus funding guidelines,…

Authors: SCPC and Geoff Pallay At the mention of tort reform at any one of the recent health care town halls across the state, crowds cheered with delight. Virtually no…

Alternative energy advocates unveiled elaborate visions of what green energy could mean for South Carolina’s future during a climate change conference last week at South Carolina State University. State and…

It would appear the “private” aspect of Innovista, originally touted as a “public-private partnership,” is all but dead. To date, USC’s research campus, which has cost taxpayers more than $100…

here were no two ways about it: as legislators worked through the spring to cobble together a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, they claimed South Carolina was on the…

South Carolina student performance on the 2009 SAT dropped by 9 points to a lowest-in-the-South average score of 1452, according to an S.C. Policy Council analysis of the 2009 College…

South Carolina’s performance on the ACT college entrance test dropped this year to an average score of 19.8, which ranks 46th in the nation. In 2008, the state’s average score…

Online check registers are an essential tool to make government spending decisions transparent and allow the public to see how their tax dollars are spent by government officials. In February,…

Citizens earning more than $32,879 rank amongst the wealthiest half of U.S. taxpayers and paid more than 97 percent of all income taxes in 2007, according to new IRS data…

Proposals now before Congress seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States through a “cap‐and‐trade” system, under which U.S. producers would receive tradable permits to emit greenhouse gasses.…