Letters: SC driving away military retirees

A recent news article detailed how the military contributes more than $20 billion to the S.C. economy. That was followed closely by another article discussing the planned investment of millions of dollars to upgrade facilities at Fort Jackson and Shaw airbase.

That type of investment begs the question: What does South Carolina give back to those active-duty and retired military members? The answer: taxes, taxes, and more taxes.

Florida and Tennessee have no state income tax. Georgia does not tax military retirement pay, provides a $30,000 exemption for other retirement income and does not charge school taxes on residents 65 and older.

South Carolina exempts $3,000 of military retirement from income taxes.

That has to play big with BRAC, charged with studying base closures. South Carolina claims to be military-friendly. Well, this would say otherwise.

With the current atmosphere of increasing taxes to solve mismanagement, neglect and misappropriation, along with utility rates rising through the roof, why would anyone, military or not, choose to retire in South Carolina? To me the answer is simple: They would not.

This story was originally published June 4, 2017 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Letters: SC driving away military retirees."