The nonprofit, membership-driven South Carolina Small Business Chamber will officially be supporting an IRS complaint against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We, along with other business organizations, are questioning potential violations of exemptions under the federal tax law in the U.S. Chamber’s conduct of lobbying and campaign funding. More on this later. Below is a […]
Challenging the U.S. Chamber Read More »
Who’s got the cheapest lumber in town? The cheapest mortar? Think the best prices are way out at Lowe’s? Think again. Shuman-Owens Supply Co., located just 5 minutes from downtown Columbia, SC, is a brick’s throw from the S.C. State Fair Grounds and Gamecock Stadium. And it’s one of the last independent, locally-owned hardware stores
A local success + Happy Hardware Day Nov. 20! Read More »
Remember the most effective warnings about the new health care law? “Rationing” and “Government getting between you and your doctor” To this day the opponents of reform are still out on the stump scaring voters with these statements. Read today’s story in the New York Times and see where the real rationing and interference with
Health care rationing Read More »
Last week a Florida judge allowed parts of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patients Protection and Affordable Care Act to go forward. That received a lot of press attention and chest thumping by those who want to repeal national health care reform. Earlier judges in Marland, California and Michigan dismissed cases challenging the
Health care reform in the courts Read More »
Two phone conversations last evening and one this morning indicate that the South Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR) will suspend its controversial sales tax ruling on contract services until the Legislature addresses the issue next year. The controversy exploded upon news last weekend that DOR was trying to collect back sales taxes from certain small
DOR expected to call off tax dogs Read More »
Very interesting piece by financial columnist James Surowiecki, excerpted from The New Yorker: ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTOPH NIEMANN (reposted with respect from The New Yorker) “In the nineteen-eighties, a new kind of chain store came to dominate American shopping: the “category killer.” These stores killed off all competition in a category by stocking a near-endless variety of
Wake up call for business owners — big and small Read More »
When the S.C. Department of Revenue (DOR) told B.J. Rodgers that her Charleston business, Greenery Gallery, owed $42,000 is back sales taxes, she considered filing bankruptcy for her 24-year old business. Fortunately for us, she decided to fight back. In 2005, the General Assembly passed a package of changes to the state tax code. Much
Small business tax “ambush” Read More »
Three interesting developments in the area of energy/climate this week. First, a blog in The Hill yesterday summarizes 4 recent poll results from ABC News/Washington Post, Wall Street Journal/NBC, USA Today/Gallup and Benenson Strategy Group. All showed strong public support for regulating greenhouse gasses and renewable energy. The blogger, David Di Martino, concludes, “American voters
Good news on energy Read More »
All those angry voters in the country who are worried about foreign and multi-national corporations influencing our government and the shipping of American jobs overseas will probably end up voting the way those foreign corporations want them to vote. A new report shows that donations from foreign corporations are being funneled into this year’s Congressional campaign
The Un-American Chamber Read More »
Let’s stretch our imaginations for just a bit. What if we discovered that every horse in the state was suffering from a disease that only affected horses? But the cost of the needed medicine was too much for horse owners to afford. So a legislator running for a higher office, realizing that everyone loves horses,
A horse is a horse, of course, of course . . . Read More »
