Letter | Fear of increasing taxes in South Carolina driving politicians to risk the environment

Since drilling for petroleum off South Carolina’s shores is clearly risky business, there can be only one reason it has received high-level political support. Politicians who base their reelection on never raising taxes are desperate to find sources of revenue for expenditures that even they admit are unavoidable.

Volunteering to be the nation’s dumping ground for nuclear waste is apparently not profitable enough; they insist on seeking other money-making methods of corrupting our environment. By pandering for so long to no-tax freeloaders, they have nurtured the adolescent, state-wide attitude that South Carolina, unlike every other political entity on the planet, can have something for nothing. That debunked notion is now so thoroughly cemented in the minds of so many of our voters that it has become the 11th Commandment. But there’s no manna from heaven. There’s no free lunch.

Boeing and BMW are not riding to the rescue. There’s only tax revenue to maintain and improve our communities and our state.

Seat belt fastened? Nothing dooms South Carolina to 49th place in everything that matters except its unwillingness to part with money for anything but guns and football.

One of the secrets of highly successful states is that they are run by adults. These adults persuade constituents that support systems work best when all are willing to pay – and yes sometimes sacrifice – for the things that add quality to our way of life. Education, healthcare, infrastructure, public safety, assistance to the disabled, the environment, agriculture, forestry and dozens of other concerns require adequate budgeting.

None of these areas of government responsibility can meet citizens’ needs if they are short changed. Selling our environment for 30 pieces of silver may also not prove to be the solution.

Government is evil only if it neglects the needs of its citizens; and the needs of citizens can be met only if everyone willingly pays their fair share. If the word “taxes” makes you feel faint or elicits thoughts of mayhem, please check with your primary care physician. Perhaps she has a cure for your irrational reaction to the only possible solution to state problems that grow longer in the tooth year after year.

At this point those problems appear intractable, but they most assuredly aren’t. Let me amend that first sentence. Government is evil if it proposes revenue sources that risk greater harm than benefit to those it governs.

Rational people don’t needlessly put at risk the things they value most. Drilling offshore violates that rule. Offshore drilling is not a method for raising revenue; on the contrary, it is a tax evasion scheme morphed into a campaign strategy. Regarding taxes, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., observed that “With them, I buy civilization.” That could turn out to be a good investment for all of us who love living in South Carolina and who cherish its environment.

The writer lives in Pawleys Island.

This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Letter | Fear of increasing taxes in South Carolina driving politicians to risk the environment."