It's clear that our economy is in a recession. The longer we wait, the bigger the problem will become. Being that South Carolina is not necessarily an economical powerhouse, we have taken the hit just the same as everyone else. The article posted in The State newspaper by Cindi Ross Scoppe “Government has to make choices families, businesses don’t” addresses a few of the issues we face in SC. Scoppe’s intention of this article is to explain the difficult decisions our government is faced with concerning government spending.
The easiest way to relate these issues of government spending to the common person is what is known as the families-businesses analogy. If you wouldn’t spend money a certain way within your family, then you shouldn't spend money that way within the government. Scoppe touches on the topic of raising taxes or cutting taxes. On one hand raising taxes would result in more funds for the government to allocate back into the state, but would in turn lessen the money available to be spent by the tax-payer. Scoppe also touches on layoffs. You can’t reward the valuable employees and then completely layoff everyone else. On the flip-side if you don’t cut workers then you consequently have to lessen the pay of those same valuable and not so valuable employees.
This was a great article that really explains these issues in a way that almost anyone could understand. I certainly agree with Scoppe, there are no easy solutions. However, the government is still responsible to uphold their allegiance to the common tax-payer. Keeping our best interests in mind and cutting costs where they can. The decisions on government spending in South Carolina won’t benefit everyone, but there must at least be a sincere attempt to do so. The government owes the tax-payer that much respect.
