COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) – A cautious organization of economists monday to cut the amount of taxes, fees and other profits, South Carolina expects to increase this fiscal year by about $52 million largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, economists predicted that South Carolina would have more than $800 million more to spend, but now that number is reduced to about $86 million with many warnings that may be too high if COVID-19 returns, consumers avoid spending or some other economic situation.An O crisis occurs, it may be too low if the virus goes away or if a vaccine develops.
“We will continue to hope for the best, but we will continue to plan for more difficult times,” said Frank Rainwater, executive director of the state tax and earnings office, whose firm is guilty of predicting how much cash lawmakers will spend.
South Carolina is not as close to overturning a primary budget challenge in fiscal 2020-21, as Rainwater’s estimate might indicate.booming.
And the estimates don’t come with some other providence that came here Monday when South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson announced that the federal government would pay the state $600 million, minus legal fees, to settle fines and legal action for failing to meet the deadline.for savannah nuclear tissues. River site near Aiken.
The Council of Economic Advisers approved Rainwater’s estimate and shared its opinion with lawmakers, who go back to a two-week special consultation on 15 September to draft the government’s spending plan for the budget year that began on July 1.
The General Assembly waits to see if they could get an explanation of the unrest that COVID-19 has caused to the economy.There are no concrete answers yet.
Rainwater’s most recent estimate has cut cash from sales tax reviews and lodging taxes, as occasions like Clemson and University of South Carolina football would possibly not be played in front of crowds with sold-out tickets and even reduced the state’s profits from bingo games by $600,000.
Council members said they appreciated caution because having to cut off state agency cash mid-year over the year can cause long-term disruption, as was the case with the Great Recession more than a decade ago, which took up to 10 years to recover from Array.
“There are so many points of threat and so much uncertainty. We’ve been lucky so far.We’ll have to remain lucky,” Said Board Member Emerson Gower.
When the state idea had another $ 800 million, the House agreed to a budget in March that provided everyone with raises, tax cuts, advanced roads and increased criminal security.
Almost all of this is in the air now. Gov. Henry McMaster recommended copying and pasting last year’s spending plan into this year’s budget and holding any surpluses until the pandemic declines and the economy stabilizes.
Budget leaders in the House and Senate have said they plan a cautious spending on this year’s budget.
The Senate Finance Committee meets tuesday for the first time on what to do with the 2020-2021 budget.
___
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
___
Follow the AP pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.