IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/135409/2/Walmart-to-Bring-4000-Jobs-to-SC-Nikki-Haley-Says

Lexington, SC (WLTX) – Walmart is bringing 4,000 jobs over five years to South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley announced Wednesday.

Haley made the announcement alongside state leaders and Walmart USA’s CEO Bill Simon at a news conference at the State Farmers Market.

The governor says the company will bring new stores to the state over the next five years and create all retail positions. She says the stores will create 300 management salaried jobs.

The company said in a release that the new stores will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic activity.

The investment includes relocations and expansions of existing stores as well as new locations.

Haley says Walmart is committed to buying products locally, and that the company already buys from South Carolina companies such as Senn Brothers, a produce vendor based in Columbia.

She says no special tax breaks were offered to Walmart for this new investment, and that the deal had been in the works for several months.

Walmart was part of the effort which defeated a plan to give online retailer Amazon tax breaks so they would build a distribution center in Lexington County. The company and local businesses said the deal would give Amazon and unfair advantage.

Haley said she and other state leaders would like to work with Amazon, and that they enjoy seeing companies who are already here expand.

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Rob Godfrey
Press Secretary | Office of Governor Nikki Haley
O: 803.734.5074 | C: 803.429.5086

Last November, we believe the House Republicans were given a mandate by the American people – cut spending, shrink government, and help create sustainable, private sector jobs.

We also believe that the first real opportunity for the new Republican majority to show the American people that they are serious is the federal budget.

And yesterday, they showed their hand, as Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin revealed his long awaited 2012 budget, entitled “The Path to Prosperity.”

A few of the highlights – it would cut $6.2 trillion over 10 years, impose a cap on discretionary spending, reduce the tax rate for individuals and businesses to 25% and give states the flexibility to manage Medicaid rather than keeping it in the hands of bureaucrats in Washington.

To learn more about Rep. Ryan’s attempt to control spending and put us on the path to prosperity and a balanced budget, please take a moment to watch his new video below:

Dear Friends,

Over the last several days, I have received many calls and emails concerning the Amazon vote. Some were in favor of the vote I took, some were opposed.

Although it’s often difficult to explain a complicated matter in a letter or an email, I am going to attempt to do so with this email. If you have additional questions, please feel free to call me at 940-1696. I am your representative and I am always happy to talk with you.

The Amazon bill was not an easy issue. I did not sleep for three nights, just wrestling with this issue. In all honesty, I would have liked to have had more information. However below is the information I had, which you may or may not have read or heard about in the media.

I have heard many say that SC made a deal with Amazon and we should honor that deal. We did honor our deal. The Amazon package included free land to build their facility, reduction in property taxes, job tax credits and the elimination of Sunday blue laws. The “elimination of sales tax deal for five years” is a memo from the Commerce Department stating it would “make its best efforts” to secure the legislature’s approval for the elimination of the sales tax.

Amazon is a $9.86 billion company with high-priced lawyers working for them. They began construction on this facility knowing the elimination of the sales tax had not been approved. This was not an oversight!!

Currently Amazon is in a legal battle with Texas. Texas gave Amazon a 5 year break in taxes, similar to their request of SC. The five years has ended and this year they owed the state of Texas $269 million dollars. They refuse to pay and began threatening to close their facility in Texas. So far, they have not closed the facility and have actually hired more people, but have yet to pay their tax. The SEC is currently investigating this issue.

According to the Seattle Times, this same tactic was tried in Colorado. According to an editorial in the Seattle Times “Amazon reacted with punitive petulance, sending a deliberate message to lawmakers in every other state: Make us play by the same tax rules as other businesses and your state will be punished, too.”

This isn’t something SC has done to Amazon, this is apparently how Amazon does business. Amazon also has a $1.5 billion bill with the IRS for inefficiencies in transfer pricing with foreign subsidies.

With all of these tax issues in other places, it is hard to believe Amazon overlooked the sales tax issue before they began construction. They began construction and they are now forcing the issue to hold us hostage to their demands. From a business standpoint, it is a brilliant move on their part.

As lawmakers, we were besieged with calls from SC businesses who strongly objected to the Amazon tax break. Small business owners who have been in SC for years, providing jobs, paying their taxes and receiving no incentives from the government were upset by the disadvantageous position it placed on their companies. The small business community claimed as many jobs brought by Amazon would be lost across the state due to unfair competition.

The Federal Government is also working on a bill to enforce the collection of taxes by all online retailers. It is the law, taxes are to be collected on items sold.

Hopefully we will be able to work something out with Amazon. Most of my constituents in District 9 own small businesses or work for small businesses. The majority of the calls and emails I received were opposed to giving Amazon the exemption. Particularly in this economy, this was a very difficult decision. As lawmakers, we have to be careful not to give special tax advantages to one company that would disadvantage other companies. Your government should not pick the “winners and losers” in our businesses. This entire debate over Amazon demonstrates the need for tax reform in this state. We need a fair and level playing field so we will not have issues like this one in the future.

Remember if a bill is coming before the House and you are in support or opposition to the bill, you can always call (803)212-6889 and let me know your opinion. I want to know what you are thinking. I am in Columbia to represent you!

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to serve.

Sincerely,
Representative Anne Thayer

Maybe he’ll show up on the stage Thursday in Greenville

NOTE: The loss of confidence in America’s economy isn’t because we’re not raising the debt limit fast enough: it’s because we have no credible plan to ever stop raising it.

The Greenville News
Don’t surrender to the debt By Jim DeMint

There are only two choices when it comes to our nation’s debt crisis. Fight the debt, or surrender to it.
Some are already giving up.

Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated, $3.6 trillion has been added to the debt and if the country continues on the path he has laid, the debt will nearly double in the next 10 years to $26 trillion. Yet many Democrats are insisting that it’s more important to increase the debt limit than it is to seek spending reforms to prevent our nation from going into bankruptcy.

Borrowing more money without any plan to cut spending is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. It won’t improve the nation’s financial standing; it will only endanger it.

Debt increase advocates are misleading the public when they say fiscal catastrophe will result from a failure to increase the debt ceiling. They are using scare tactics to keep up their big-borrowing and spending sprees, just like they did to justify their Wall Street and mortgage bailouts. The Chicken Little claims that a debt ceiling lapse would mean the nation’s creditors will not be paid are simply not true.

Next year, tax revenues are projected to cover 70 percent of federal expenditures. Only 7 percent of all projected federal government expenditures will be used to pay interest on the debt. While Washington would need to engage in significant cost-cutting measures, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service has confirmed that default would happen only if Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner chooses to let it. He has the authority to prioritize payments to ensure that default does not occur by using the available money to pay the nation’s creditors and cover essential services like Social Security payments without interruption.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Gov. Nikki Haley today announced that the state of South Carolina has suspended the first business license under the South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act after repeated and intentional violations.

Monterrey Mexican Restaurant of Killian, L.L.C., in Columbia, was notified today by the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) that it must suspend its operations for 10 consecutive days. Violation of the order will result in its business license being revoked for five years.

“At a time when President Obama has allowed ICE to abandon worksite enforcement and there are millions of illegal immigrants in the workforce, South Carolina is identifying the problem and addressing it,” Gov. Haley said.

Under the South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act, all businesses in South Carolina have a business license to employ workers. That license can be suspended or revoked by the state if a business owner fails to verify the legal work status of employees within five business days after they are hired.

“In this economy, we need to ensure that every available job is held by an employee who is legally in this country and authorized to work,” LLR Director Catherine Templeton said. “Employers who choose to ignore the requirements of the state immigration law in their hiring practices will be penalized.”

Gov. Haley said, “What you’re seeing is an agency director and an administration that understand what it means to enforce the laws on the books.”

Following an investigation by LLR on October 25, 2010, the restaurant was notified that four of its five employees were not authorized to work in the United States, and that state law required the termination of any illegal immigrants.

The department conducted a follow-up inspection on November 5, 2010 and found Monterrey had hired five new employees without verifying their employment eligibility.

In an agreement with LLR signed by restaurant ownership on January 6, 2011, the business’ imputed license was suspended for 10 days but immediately stayed provided Monterrey terminate all unauthorized workers, pay a fine of $1,000, and conduct a self-audit to verify employment eligibility for all employees.

LLR conducted an unannounced audit of the restaurant on March 24, 2011 and found that the business had hired four new employees without properly verifying their work eligibility.

Since the law went into effect on July 1, 2009, LLR has audited 5,800 businesses and issued citations to 500 employers for violations related to employment verification. Information on employers cited can be found online.

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Rob Godfrey
Press Secretary | Office of Governor Nikki Haley
O: 803.734.5074 | C: 803.429.5086