Don’t let government tax the sun

South Carolina is a state that garners national attention politically on the football field and now in an unexpected arena: solar energy. A few years ago, the Legislature unanimously voted to legalize solar leasing and net metering. This quickly led to explosive solar growth in the state.

The next year, South Carolina became the No. 1 state in the country for solar-capacity growth and No. 2 in solar job growth. That growth has continued with the state seeing an 800 percent increase in new residential installation capacity and thousands of new jobs in just a few years.

SC solar farms on hold, awaiting tax break

Our solar momentum could be put at risk if legislators do not act to make sure no taxes are levied on residential solar installations. No county currently collects property taxes on residential solar systems, and we want to make sure that doesn’t change.

S.44, which has passed the Senate and awaits action in the House, would protect people who go solar from being hit with unexpected tax hikes. South Carolina needs this law to allow solar businesses to set accurate expectations for homeowners, but any solution must apply to homeowners who own their own system and folks who lease a system and pay monthly.

With solar leasing, folks who can’t afford to buy a system can still access solar energy and can start saving money from day one. Leasing has changed the game for access to solar energy and made generating power from the sun affordable and available to everyone, not just the rich.

I recently started an advocacy group called the Palmetto Conservative Solar Coalition, to help bring conservative principles to conversations about solar energy.

We are dedicated to removing barriers to solar businesses and applying free-market principles to further energy independence with solar energy. New taxes that stifle economic growth and hurt families looking to save money and gain more control over their bills are not good for this state. We can’t allow our state to be the first to tax out good jobs.