South Carolina Considers $500 ‘Yankee Tax’ for Newcomers Who Want to Drive

An inflow of individuals shifting down South has prompted South Carolina lawmakers to debate whether or not newcomers ought to pay a $500 “Yankee tax” earlier than they will benefit from the state’s infrastructure.

Below a invoice proposed by Republican state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, incoming South Carolina residents should pay two one-time charges: $250 to acquire a driver’s license and $250 to register a automotive. The fee is dubbed the Yankee tax as a result of it’s anticipated to principally have an effect on these shifting from Northern states.

Particularly, new residents would pay the charge with their property taxes and current the receipt at their native Division of Motor Autos workplace for driver’s licenses and automotive registration. Every county might have its voters resolve whether or not or to not implement the charge by including the query to the poll in a common election.

Based on Goldfinch, this may be certain newcomers pay their fair proportion for roads and bridges that had already been funded by present taxpayers. He additionally described the charge as one thing just like what a development firm sometimes pays to offset the potential influence its new venture might have on the neighborhood.

“We’re not making an attempt to construct a wall throughout the North Carolina border,” Goldfinch mentioned, reported The Related Press. “However, on the identical time, we predict that folks ought to need to pay their fair proportion once they present up.”

In the meantime, Democratic state Sen. John Scott argued the newcomers are already paying their share via different methods similar to gasoline tax, noting that South Carolina in 2017 accepted a plan to extend gasoline taxes by two cents yearly for six years. Many of the new income is deposited right into a belief fund devoted to infrastructure upkeep.

Republican state Sen. Sean Bennett additionally raised the query of why, underneath the invoice’s logic, the identical tax wouldn’t be imposed when new residents register their kids for college.

“Development shouldn’t be simple to handle, significantly in your group, actually in my communities,” mentioned Bennett, who supported the proposal. “However the place does it cease, I assume, is my query.”

Though the proposed charge is named a Yankee tax, it might have an effect on different Southerners as nicely. Based on the most recent interstate migration information from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly all of the 129,227 individuals South Carolina took in in 2019 had been from states historically thought of “Southern,” together with North Carolina (22,740), Georgia (18,828), Florida (9,909), Virginia (9,721), and Texas (9,240). The highest Yankee contributors to South Carolina’s inhabitants progress had been Pennsylvania (4,742), New York (3,169), and Massachusetts (2,647).

South Carolina remains to be among the many prime locations for Individuals to maneuver to, based on a report printed in January by nationwide long-distance family mover United Van Traces. With an inbound shifting price of 61 %, South Carolina is ranked the fourth hottest vacation spot after Vermont (77 %), Oregon (67 %), and Rhode Island (66 %).