Having already barred gays and lesbians from marrying (going so far as to put it in the state’s constitution), South Carolina’s legislative conservatives are now looking to provide a tax cut for married couples. Just in case you thought it was just a coincidence that the state would propose this benefit just months after the constitutional change, the press release announcing the bill was full of these nuggets…
Today, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and the House Republican Caucus introduced a tax cut plan that shows their support of the traditional family by giving married couples a tax cut.
“We show our beliefs in the bills we pass,” said Speaker Harrell. “While other states have marriage tax penalties, we are showing our support of families by giving married couples a tax break. This tax cut applies to all married couples and defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.”
No, really, we get it!
The Marriage Tax Cut (H. 4550) complements the work of last year’s income tax cut that eliminated the bottom tax bracket for all workers. This plan cuts the income tax bracket back an additional one percent for all married couples.
“A tax cut for married couples is just the kind of pro-family legislation we need to be supporting,” said Rep. Ted Pitts (R - Lexington). “This plan is not designed to be a huge economic boost for getting married, but is intended to benefit those who maintain a family and shows our continued support of traditional family values in our state.”
Rep. Gloria Haskins (R - Greenville) said, “Today’s culture too often trivializes the act of marriage, we should be taking steps that support and strengthen this crucial family bond. This tax cut is a positive step in the right direction.”
The tax cut applies to any married couple filing jointly or separately. The bill reflects what our state Constitution says by defining a marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
It probably should come as no surprise that the press release on this bill came 20 minutes prior to a release on a road improvement bill. Ah, the sweet misguided priorities of our state.
One Comment
At the expense of sounding paranoid, I’ve always said that there’s a much more sinister aspect to legislation like Amendment 1 than simply defining marriage. It, and other legislation like it, is being used successfully by the religious right to attack the very existence of homosexuality. We often hear that defining marriage isn’t about anti-gay discrimination or homophobia, which is a lie. They’ve already written discrimination into the South Carolina constitution with the blessing of a majority of those who bothered to vote. From what I understand (and I’d like to be told I’m wrong), even public entities like the City of Charleston and MUSC can’t provide domestic partner benefits for employees. We shouldn’t disregard the significance of Amendment 1. This should give us the impetus to work even more diligently to get sexual orientation and gender identity added to South Carolina’s anti-discrimination law. Until that’s done, we should also harass the City of Charleston and other jurisdictions until they broaden their local anti-discrimination ordinances.