Democrats: Haley proposal a tax hike for 1M residents

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democratic legislators say Gov. Nikki Haley’s plan to cut income taxes by $9 billion over the next decade is nothing but a tax hike for more than a million South Carolinians.

Democratic lawmakers urged Haley on Thursday to stop holding infrastructure funding hostage to a proposal they say benefits the wealthy and forces cuts in government services.

Haley says she supports increasing the gas tax 10 cents per gallon to pay for roads, but only if legislators cut income taxes by 2 percentage points over 10 years.

State economic advisers say that will reduce revenue by $1.8 billion yearly when fully implemented. They project 1 million taxpayers would see no benefit because they would pay no personal income taxes.

Democrats point out those taxpayers would pay the gas tax increase.