Trump’s tax cut means raises at this Lexington County manufacturing plant

WEST COLUMBIA It may be controversial on Capitol Hill, but the tax cut backed by President Donald Trump and passed by the Republican Congress last week led to good news for employees of a Lexington County company on Wednesday.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. announced it would raise pay by 5 percent for all of its employee who don’t work on commission. The raises are a direct result, CEO Lou Kennedy said, of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 signed into law by Trump last week.

The announcement was made in a huge, heated tent festooned with giant American flags in front of the company’s plant in the Saxe Gotha Industrial Park in Cayce/West Columbia. The catered event featured Gov. Henry McMaster, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson — all Republicans — and a host of local and state officials, including Steve Benjamin, Columbia’s Democratic mayor.

When the tax cut passed, Kennedy and her husband, Nephron founder Bill Kennedy, “were cheering from the rooftops,” Lou Kennedy said. “We thought, ‘How can we be a part of this?’”

The firm employs about 640 workers. Those in attendance gave their boss a standing ovation.

Sandra Watson, the company’s vice president for corporate affairs, was near the back of the tent when Kennedy made the announcement.

“It felt like a dream come true,” she said. “As soon as we heard the news our hands went straight up in the air. It’s a great move going into to 2018.”

The tax bill reduced tax rates for businesses and individuals and increased standard deductions and family tax credits. The corporate income tax rate was cut from 35 percent to 21 percent.

But the law also eliminated personal exemptions — while doubling the standard deduction — and limited deductions for state and local income and property taxes, as well as capping mortgage interest deductions. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center found that 83 percent of the tax cuts’ value would go to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans by 2027.

Nephron manufactures respiratory medications. It recently announced a $12.5 million expansion of its Lexington County plant that is expects to add another 125 employees by June 2018.

Both Bill and Lou Kennedy are South Carolina natives and University of South Carolina graduates. In a news release, the company noted that 50 percent of its employees are educated at South Carolina universities or technical colleges.

The base wage for a Nephron worker is $15 a hour, and the average salary is $70,000 a year, Lou Kennedy said.

McMaster, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2014 and became governor earlier this year when former Gov. Nikki Haley was appointed U.N. ambassador by Trump, was the first statewide official in South Carolina to endorse the real estate mogul in the 2016 election. He, also gave a Trump nominating speech at the Republican National Convention.

McMaster said the president “with his cutting taxes is taking us in the right direction ... cutting taxes spurs business. When taxes go down everything gets better.”

Graham, who has butted heads with Trump on some issues and supported him on others, said he hoped other companies would also pass the tax savings to their employees.

Nephron “represents the model,” he said. “Follow their lead.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Trump’s tax cut means raises at this Lexington County manufacturing plant."