NEWS BRIEFS: On South Carolina’s business tax climate, voter registration

South Carolina’s business tax climate in bottom third

Staff reports  |  The Palmetto State’s business climate ranks 37^th out of the 50 states, according to a framework of 2017 rankings from the Tax Foundation.  The best overall ranking went to Wyoming, while the worst went to New Jersey.  Learn more here.

“While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems, and provides a roadmap for improvement,” according to the nonprofit organization.

South Carolina ranked 15^th best in its corporate tax rank and in the middle at 26^th for its property tax rank, compared to other states.  It ranked 31^st in its sales taxes climate and 37^th in its unemployment insurance tax practices.  It was 10^th from the bottom in its individual income tax ranking, which may reflect some economic structural deficiencies.

Deadline to register to vote is Oct. 8

As the mother of all debates is set for tonight between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, you won’t be able to have your say at the polls Nov. 8 unless your registered to vote.  The deadline to register in South Carolina is Oct. 8.

• Find out if you’re registered |  Start the registration process online

You might want to click the first link, especially if you haven’t voted in the last few elections, to make sure you haven’t been purged from voter rolls due to inactivity.  [We suggest you check anyway, especially if you’ve moved in the last few years.]

According to the most recent information from the S.C. Election Commission, some 3,081,428 South Carolinians are registered to vote.  In Charleston County, 274,547 people are registered to vote, the second largest number by county in the state.  Greenville County is first with 308,884 registered voters.

To become a voter, you can also register at your county board of voter registration or download a voter registration and mail it to the board.  If you’re not going to register in person, you want to account for mailing times to make sure things work out like you hope.  Learn more about how to register.