Mar 08 2010
No Welfare for Retailers
Republican candidate for governor Henry McMaster said at a campaign stop that he opposes using the state’s economic development incentives program for retail projects.
McMaster, the state attorney general, told a gathering Saturday at Sun City Hilton Head that such tax incentives would give an unfair advantage to some retailers.
It’s nice to know that somebody in the alleged party of small government is opposed to doling out our tax dollars to more corporate interests. Although, I would be curious to know which side McMaster would have come down on regarding the Boeing deal last year. His statement comes on the heals of a shopping mall being planned in Beaufort.
S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, a Republican candidate for governor, said during a campaign stop in Sun City Hilton Head Saturday that he is “not convinced the law should be changed” to give tax incentives to retail developers such as the Sembler Co.
Sembler plans to build Okatie Crossings, a 280-acre shopping center and luxury outlet mall in Beaufort and Jasper counties. Sembler has said the incentives are critical to its plan.
Saturday’s statement, which came in response to a question from a Sun City resident, was the first time McMaster has spoken publicly on the bill for which Sembler is lobbying.
That bill could come to the Senate floor as soon as Tuesday.
“I’m not sure we should be in the business of judging one retail establishment against another,” McMaster said of choosing which retailers should get tax incentives.
If Okatie Crossings can’t be profitable without taxpayers shelling out corporate welfare to Sembler Co., then why are they building the mall in the first place? If you need a government subsidy to be in the black then it sounds like a bad investment to me. Builders typically aren’t in the habit of making bad investments so this leads me to speculate that Sembler Co. can indeed be profitable without the incentives, they just want to see how much of their obligation they can pawn off on the taxpayers.
Let’s see how the Republican controlled state legislature, the party that has railed against the Obama stimulus program, votes when this bill comes up this week.









