Columns

This is a response to John Baker’s Dec. 6 article headlined “Government isn’t meant to tax away income inequality.”  
Let’s talk tax reform. According to Mr. Baker’s excellent statistics, 60 percent of Americans report taxable income of less than $50,000 a year. No tax revenue there. So Republicans want to lower the “official” corporate tax rate of 35 percent to 20 percent to stimulate the economy, and lower the “tax burden” on the rich at the same time.

Something remarkable happened in S.C. legal and political circles this past Tuesday. A sitting circuit judge running unopposed for reelection withdrew her candidacy before the Judicial Screening Commission.
News reports have focused on the unfavorable comments made by lawyers regarding Judge Kristi Harrington in an anonymous survey. The surveys revealed that many lawyers who had appeared before this judge thought she was unqualified by temperament to serve. Those survey results were not the only speed bump in Judge Harrington’s path.

In his Friday opinion column, Bobby Collins made an impassioned argument concerning income inequality, a common Democratic talking point.
The Declaration of Independence asserts that certain rights are unalienable, and “that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution asserts that you will be happy or that you will achieve your desires.

Editor’s note: In a column Friday, Rep. Newton addressed changes needed after the abandonment of the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant. Here is Part Two of his preview of the legislative session that begins in January.

Flying under the radar this offseason has been the second half of state pension reform.
While legislators passed a fix for the current system this year that keeps the plan solvent for the next couple of decades, this was a temporary solution and not the end of these reform efforts.