Reduced tax revenue -- and what it means for S.C.

Year-to-date, corporate income tax revenues are down more than 57 percent from last year.

Net Corporate Income Tax collections for July - November of this year are $30.6 million compared to $71.4 million for the same period last year -- a difference of $40.8 million. Also down on a year-to-date basis are individual income tax collections (down nearly 3 percent) and sales tax collections (down nearly 11 percent). The Board of Economic Advisors is expected to discuss declining revenues at its meeting Wednesday.

These sobering numbers and the declining revenue projections already provided by the Board of Economic Advisors further illustrate the need for a complete top-to-bottom assessment of how we spend public dollars.

With the legislature set to return in a few short weeks, the economic crisis presents us an excellent opportunity to change how we spend public money. It no longer works to spend money as fast as it comes in, acting as if good times will last forever. Nor should the state continue to grow government faster than we can pay for it. The mess we’re in today proves that we need to change.