Horry pockets would be picked for tourism marketing

Here's an advance look at Saturday's editorial, written in a state of high aggravation:

Want a sure-fire sign that our local legislators believe we'll keep re-electing them no matter how often they sell us out? Look no further than their proposal to force local taxpayers to finance tourism marketing -- by raising Horry County's combined sales tax to 9 percent.

The bill is fast-tracked in the S.C. Senate and S.C. House but has gotten little local publicity (why alert the pigeons that the knife is about to fall?). It would authorize County Council and local municipal councils to do the dirty work.

It gets worse: Local councils considering such a tax increase would not have to seek the approval of the voters. Members could raise the tax directly, on their own, then take their chances with the voters at election time.

Tourism interests and the legislators out to help them, in short, are well aware that local voters would never approve such a tax. So they opted for the involuntary route.

Voters are no fools. They know that a substantial chunk of their tax revenue -- especially accomodations tax collections -- already supports tourism marketing. Because that revenue comes mostly from tourists, most local folks are OK with transferring some of it to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce for marketing purposes.

Most local folks are also OK with the state grant program that has supported destination-specific tourism marketing the past few years. For every private dollar spent to attract visitors to the Grand Strand and other S.C. destinations, the state kicked in 50 cents -- the theory being that the state's return in sales-tax collections more than offsets the cost of the grant.

Legislators have balked at renewing the grant program for another year because the recession has driven down tax collections (a short-sighted view in that the grant program demonstrably drives revenues up). So in stepped our local geniuses with this ninth-cent-on-the-sales-tax proposal.

Since they can't get tourism marketing money from the state, they propose to foist that responsibility off on local taxpayers -- at a time when many folks have lost their jobs; many more have taken pay cuts or watched their retirement savings wither.

As County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland correctly observes, this is not a good time to tap their wallets -- especially considering that the local public sector already subsidizes tourism in a variety of ways. The better course for Strand tourism entrepreneurs is to dig deeper into their own pockets for marketing dollars.

So who are the tone-deaf legislators behind this proposal? They are: S.C. Sens. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet, Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach and Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree; and S.C. Reps. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, George Hearn, R-Conway, and Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach.

Rankin is the lead legislator on the lead version of the bill, which the Senate has already passed on first reading. It comes up for second reading on Tuesday. (The House will take up its version, for which Edge is the lead sponsor, soon.) Readers who want to register their thoughts with Rankin should call his office in Columbia. The number is (843) 248-2405.

Editor's note: The bills in question are S 483 and H 3590. Read them at www.scstatehouse.gov; click "bill number" under Quick Search and enter the bill number in the box below. 

Comments?

The bill is fast-tracked in the S.C. Senate and S.C. House but has gotten little local publicity (why alert the pigeons that the knife is about to fall?). It would authorize County Council and local municipal councils to do the dirty work.

It gets worse: Local councils considering such a tax increase would not have to seek the approval of the voters. Members could raise the tax directly, on their own, then take their chances with the voters at election time.

Tourism interests and the legislators out to help them, in short, are well aware that local voters would never approve such a tax. So they opted for the involuntary route.

Voters are no fools. They know that a substantial chunk of their tax revenue -- especially accomodations tax collections -- already supports tourism marketing. Because that revenue comes mostly from tourists, most local folks are OK with transferring some of it to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce for marketing purposes.

Most local folks are also OK with the state grant program that has supported destination-specific tourism marketing the past few years. For every private dollar spent to attract visitors to the Grand Strand and other S.C. destinations, the state kicked in 50 cents -- the theory being that the state's return in sales-tax collections more than offsets the cost of the grant.

Legislators have balked at renewing the grant program for another year because the recession has driven down tax collections (a short-sighted view in that the grant program demonstrably drives revenues up). So in stepped our local geniuses with this ninth-cent-on-the-sales-tax proposal.

Since they can't get tourism marketing money from the state, they propose to foist that responsibility off on local taxpayers -- at a time when many folks have lost their jobs; many more have taken pay cuts or watched their retirement savings wither.

As County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland correctly observes, this is not a good time to tap their wallets -- especially considering that the local public sector already subsidizes tourism in a variety of ways. The better course for Strand tourism entrepreneurs is to dig deeper into their own pockets for marketing dollars.

So who are the tone-deaf legislators behind this proposal? They are: S.C. Sens. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet, Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach and Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree; and S.C. Reps. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, George Hearn, R-Conway, and Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach.

Rankin is the lead legislator on the lead version of the bill, which the Senate has already passed on first reading. It comes up for second reading on Tuesday. (The House will take up its version, for which Edge is the lead sponsor, soon.) Readers who want to register their thoughts with Rankin should call his office in Columbia. The number is (843) 248-2405.

Editor's note: The bills in question are S 483 and H 3590. Read them at www.scstatehouse.gov; click "bill number" under Quick Search and enter the bill number in the box below. 

Comments?