Familiar tax cuts, new bonuses in SC governor’s budget

By Jeffrey Collins

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)– Gov. Henry McMaster’s suggestion for how South Carolina spends billions of extra dollars contains some familiar requests he hasn’t got in his five years in office, like cutting income taxes. But the governor is sprinkling in some new proposals, such as $2,000 bonuses for school bus drivers, $3 million to expand election audits and $100 million to South Carolina’s aging health lab. McMaster released his budget request Monday. The General Assembly controls what gets spent, but lawmakers have had a good relationship with the governor. At the top of McMaster’s budget is cutting the income tx rate from 7% to 6% over five years, costing $177 million a year.