News and Press Releases for September 2006

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9/08/2006

Governor to Welcome Company that is Fair to State's Taxpayers

Governor Praises New Sportsman's Store, Calls Cabela's Incentives a 'Menace to Mom and Pop Shops'

Columbia, S.C. - Governor Mark Sanford today announced that he will attend the ribbon cutting for Sportsman's Warehouse - which recently located in South Carolina without the help of new incentives.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a bill filled with incentives for specialty retailer Cabela's, which Governor Sanford vetoed and the legislature subsequently overrode. The bill effectively would force family owned stores that have been in business for years to subsidize a wealthy competitor - one with well-heeled lobbyists able to negotiate lucrative tax breaks. The unprecedented retail incentives package passed for Cabela's includes a $2,500 per-job tax break every year for five years - amounting to $3.75 million in incentives that the average small business or chain retailer doesn't get. Cabela's would also receive up to 50 cents in rebates on every dollar generated there in sales tax - which could total $1.4 million per year that no other retailer gets.

In addition to welcoming a new retailer that didn't demand special treatment to come to South Carolina, Gov. Sanford today renewed his call for the General Assembly to repeal the unjustifiable Cabela's incentives.

"Getting into the business of subsidizing retailers in this way that's never been done before is a menace to mom and pop shops all over South Carolina," Gov. Sanford said. "It amounts to a penalty against family owned businesses, and a penalty against straight-up competitors like Sportsman's Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop who didn't ask for special treatment and subsidies. The state ought to be about helping our existing businesses succeed and welcoming new competitors to a level playing field, not about taking money out of existing businesses' pockets and putting it directly in the pocket of a competitor."

The ribbon cutting will take place at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning (September 9, 2006) at the new Sportsman's Warehouse in Columbia (476 Piney Grove Road). For more information or directions from you location, please contact Joel Sawyer in the Governor's Office at (803) 734-2100.