Let’s Make South Carolina Number One:

Passing necessary reform will create jobs and promote prosperity

By Rep. Rex Rice

Recently, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranked South Carolina seventh in the nation for small business survivability. When you couple that statistic with the recent announcement of the creation of 4,000 new jobs by Boeing, it appears our state is doing the right things to move forward in a difficult and ever-changing economy.

However, we cannot expect the ribbon cuttings to continue unless we strive to improve the climate for business in South Carolina. We must do everything possible on a local, state, and federal level to assist with additional job creation for all businesses.

A simple first step is paving the way for South Carolina to be number one in the nation for small business. Small businesses employ between 60 and 70 percent of our state’s workforce and account for 96 percent of all employers. By removing excessive bureaucracy from state government and eliminating state income taxes, South Carolina can become the best place in the nation for small business and a national model for job creation.

As a member of the General Assembly, I have introduced bills, from Sunset Legislation to the Fair Tax Act, which would accomplish many of these goals. My support of this legislation is deeply rooted in my 30 years of experience making payroll, creating jobs and managing the daily operation of my own small businesses.

Those are life lessons that I wish more of our leaders in Washington shared. They are experiences one must encounter first-hand. A textbook or a classroom lecture cannot simulate the sleepless nights spent worrying about making payroll the next day, the delays and frustration caused by various state and federal regulations, or the migraines caused by the IRS.

This year, Washington has shown that having a speaker, Senate majority leader, vice president and president with little to no experience creating jobs in the private sector only results in more big government and bad business policies. From the ineffective stimulus plan to the government takeover of the auto industry, the federal government continues to flunk “Jobs 101.”

At the recent jobs summit, the White House failed to invite representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers or the National Federation of Independent Business. Rather than including the organizations that represent the vast of majority of our nation’s employers, the decision was made to invite a few corporate executives, union bosses and university professors.

When I think about job creation, academia and big labor aren’t exactly the experts I have in mind. We must focus on solutions that will renew our nation’s economic prosperity and create the jobs Americans want and need.

Some of those solutions are already being used in South Carolina. Here at home, we have created a more favorable climate for prosperity by balancing the budget every year, reducing excessive litigation and maintaining pro-growth policies such as protecting our right-to-work labor status. We have also taken steps to reduce duplicative regulations and waste through regular audits of state government.

The next step is to do what four of the top five states in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s rankings have done: eliminate personal income taxes, corporate income taxes and the capital gains tax.

It is my hope that when we return to Columbia early next year, my colleagues in the State House will support efforts to do away with the state’s income taxes. I also encourage our state senators to pass sunset legislation.

One thing is for certain, South Carolina is one of the finest places to live and work in the country. As lawmakers, we must work to ensure the best conditions for our citizens to seek the American dream. By protecting our tax dollars from wasteful spending through regular agency audits, the restructuring of state government and changing our tax code, your General Assembly has a chance to do just that in 2010.

State Rep. Rex Rice has represented Pickens and Greenville Counties for the past 15 years. He is a small business owner and a Republican candidate for South Carolina’s Third Congressional District.