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Why tackle taxes?
Rickenmann hopes the change would break a cycle of high taxes, low property values and stagnant growth laid out in the 2020 report.
Columbia’s property values, working age population and general population have grown little to none over the past decade, the report found.
Property values in the capital city rose 16 percent over that timeframe, while rising 36 percent in Greenville, 171 percent in Rock Hill and 217 percent in Charleston.
Despite thousands of college students coming into Columbia every year, its population has remained stagnant, even declining since 2016. The number of adults age 25 to 54 has grown only 2.5 percent, compared with 15 percent in Charleston, 34 percent in Greenville and 64 percent in Rock Hill, according to the report.
The reason: High taxes discourage investment and growth, which means lower revenues and more tax hikes, economist Rebecca Gunnlaugsson wrote in the report. Gunnlaugsson, who now works for the S.C. Department of Commerce, was contracted by the city to create the report in 2020 through her Columbia-based company, Acuitas Economics.
Offsetting the tax burden would put Columbia on a level playing field with other cities, Rickenmann said.
“All we’re trying to do is make Columbia more competitive within our own state,” Rickenmann said.
More growth and more investment would mean more growth and a higher revenue stream for the city, increasing the amount it can spend on projects, Rickenmann said, whether that means completing long-awaited plans to redevelop the riverfront or bolstering parts of downtown.
Plus, the tax credit could help promote affordable housing and bring in grocers to food deserts, Rickenmann said. It could also increase density downtown by encouraging businesses to fill in smaller plots of land.
“If we have all that investment, that gives us more money for our schools, more money for our parks, more money for our roadways, more money for us to invest in infrastructure because we’re building up,” Rickenmann said.
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