Small Business Legislative Achievements: The Last Five Years
Act 176 of 2020 – Business License Standardization Act
Required local governments to uniformly administer the business license tax, simplifying the process and cutting compliance costs for small businesses. The bill also imposes restrictions on third party tax collectors.
Act 61 of 2021 – SALT Tax Parity Act
In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) imposed a $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) South Carolinians could deduct on their federal returns. This cap hurt businesses organized as “pass through” entities and “S” corporations that pay taxes on business profits at the individual (owner/partner) level. Act 61 restored the full SALT deduction to SC’s pass-through businesses.
Act 228 of 2022 – Comprehensive Tax Cut
Simplified South Carolina’s income tax code by collapsing six brackets into three, reduced the top marginal individual income tax rate from 7% to 6.5%, with an additional 0.5% reduction to 6% over the next five years if the state’s general fund revenues increase each year, reduced the industrial property tax rate from effectively 9% to 6%, and provided a $1 billion one-time taxpayer rebate. Since the passage of Act 228, the SC Chamber has also advocated for, and delivered, nearly $600 million in additional individual income tax relief.
Act 237 of 2022 – Tax Credit for Returning Citizen/Veteran Employment
Provided employers with a tax credit for hiring veterans or formerly incarcerated non-violent individuals.
Act 204 of 2022 – South Carolina Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship
Codified the South Carolina Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship (SCWINS) that rewards a student pursuing a professional certificate, industry-recognized credential (IRC), diploma, or degree in a statewide workforce need at an SC Technical College. Since 2021, the SC Chamber’s advocacy efforts have resulted in $372 million going towards this scholarship.
Act 60 of 2023 – DHEC Split
Created a new standalone “one-stop shop” environmental affairs agency for the regulated community.
Act 67 of 2023 – Statewide Education and Workforce Development Act
Created the Office of Statewide Workforce Development (OSWD) to be housed within the South Carolina Department of Employment & Workforce (DEW) in an effort to streamline and consolidate workforce development activities in South Carolina.
Act 188 of 2024 – Apprentice Income Tax Credit Increase
Increased the apprentice income tax credit from $1,000 to a maximum of $4,000 per adult apprentice or $6,000 per youth apprentice. The bill also allows employers to claim an additional $1,000 tax credit for up to three years if they hire an individual full-time upon completion of their apprenticeship.
Act 136 of 2024 – Unemployment Insurance Tax Relief
Delivered relief to employers that are delinquent in their unemployment insurance (UI) taxes by allowing them to enter into installment plans with the Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) to avoid escalation to UI tax rate class twenty, ensuring that they do not fall into a spiral of tax debt by missing or miscalculating one UI tax payment.
Act 169 of 2024 – Abandoned Building Tax Credit Extension
Extended the abandoned buildings revitalization tax credit program to 2035 and increases the maximum credit amount from $500,000 to $700,000 per site in order to incentivize the redevelopment of abandoned commercial properties across the state.
H.3430 - Tort Reform/Liquor Liability
This compromise bill included modest improvements to South Carolina’s joint and several liability laws by allowing juries to consider all parties involved in an accident when allocating fault, with some exceptions, and by eliminating the “gross negligence” and alcohol exceptions to modified joint and several liability (fifty percent threshold). The bill also provided relief to a hospitality industry struggling with increased liquor liability insurance rates by expanding insurance options, offering incentives to lower premiums for bars and restaurants that implement key safety measures, requiring server training, and establishing a “knowingly” standard that must be met for a bar or restaurant to be held civilly liable in alcohol related cases.
Looking Ahead to the Next Five Years of Results:
The below bills introduced in the 2025 legislative session remain in play for passage in 2026:
H.4216 – Income Tax Reform
The House has passed a bill that would make South Carolina even more competitive in recruiting jobs and investment. The bill, which now sits in the Senate Finance Committee, would:
- Deliver $400 million in income tax relief.
- Immediately reduce the top income tax rate from 6.2% to 5.39% for filers with more than $30,000 in taxable income.
- Filers with taxable income of less than $30,000 would pay a rate of 1.99%.
- Annually cut the top rate by $200 million until the rate ultimately hits 1.99%, upon which there will be just one tax rate for all filers, provided that state revenues grow each year by 5%.
- With continued revenue growth, the rate would eventually phase out to 0%.
- Shifts how the state calculates an individual's taxable income from “federal taxable income” to adjusted gross income (AGI).
H.3358 - Business Personal Property Tax Relief
This bill, introduced by House Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter), Assistant House Majority Leader Brandon Newton (R-Lancaster), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville), and others, would exempt the first $10,000 of a business’s personal property (BPP) from taxation and exempt small businesses with less than $10,000 in BPP from burdensome reporting requirements.
H.3021 - Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act
The House has passed a bill that aims to cut red tape for South Carolina’s job creators through numerous changes to the regulatory process including by requiring that for every proposed regulation a state agency proposes two to cut, prohibiting courts from showing deference to state agencies in legal disputes, a regulation shot clock, and more. The bill sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
S.439 - Manufacturing Property Tax Exemption Cap Increase
The Senate has passed a bill that would increase the manufacturing property tax exemption cap enacted in the Comprehensive Tax Cut Act of 2022 from $170 million to $300 million. The Comprehensive Tax Cut Act of 2022 effectively reduced the manufacturing property tax rate from 9% to 6%, provided that the revenue loss to counties does not exceed $170 million. The cap increase is needed to ensure small to mid-size manufacturers do not experience a property tax hike in the coming years.
H.4134 - Angel Investor Tax Credit
The House has passed a bill to extend the Angel Investor Tax Credit for an additional ten years, until 2035. This credit allows for a 35% non-refundable tax credit to private individuals who invest their own capital in early-stage, high-growth companies. The bill now sits in the Senate Finance Committee.
RESOURCE: Small Business Guide to the One Big Beautiful Bill