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Bill 71

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                      71
Type of Legislation:              General Bill GB
Introducing Body:                 Senate
Introduced Date:                  20010110
Primary Sponsor:                  Leventis
All Sponsors:                     Leventis, Ford
Drafted Document Number:          l:\council\bills\pt\1100dw01.doc
Residing Body:                    Senate
Current Committee:                Judiciary Committee 11 SJ
Subject:                          Candidate, campaign expenditures, 
                                  limitations on; income tax deduction when; 
                                  Elections, Ethics, Campaign practices


                        History

Body    Date      Action Description                     Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  ______________________________________ _______ ____________
Senate  20010110  Introduced, read first time,           11 SJ
                  referred to Committee


              Versions of This Bill

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 8-13-1315 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A CANDIDATE MAY CHOOSE TO LIMIT HIS CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES TO SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS FOR EACH CONSTITUENT AND TO PROVIDE FOR A STATE INCOME TAX DEDUCTION FOR CONTRIBUTORS IF THE CANDIDATE ADHERES TO HIS PLEDGE; BY ADDING SECTION 12-6-1230 SO AS TO PROVIDE ALL TAXPAYERS THE INCOME TAX DEDUCTION FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 8-13-1315; AND TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-1140, RELATING TO DEDUCTIONS IN COMPUTING INDIVIDUAL TAXABLE INCOME, SO AS TO MAKE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 8-13-1315 TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 13, Chapter 13, Title 8 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 8-13-1315. (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a candidate may pledge to limit the amount of expenditures and expenditures incurred, or any combination of them, in an election cycle to seventy-five cents per constituent, as defined in subsection (B). Expenditures by party committees or expenditures by legislative caucus committees based upon party affiliation are included in this limit. An election cycle is determined for expenditure limits as it is determined for contribution limits pursuant to Section 8-13-1300(10). If a candidate chooses to limit these expenditures according to this section, he must sign a pledge within ten days of the close of filing. The candidate must file the pledge in the same manner as the statement of economic interests provided for in Section 8-13-1356. If the candidate adheres to the limits set forth in his pledge, then a contributor to his campaign during the election cycle in which he signed the pledge may deduct the amount of his contribution from his state taxable income pursuant to Section 12-6-1140. If a candidate signs this pledge and fails to adhere to it and exceeds the pledged limit, at the time he files his final report in accordance with 8-13-920, he must notify each of his campaign's contributors that they are not eligible for the tax deduction.

(B) For the purposes of this section, the number of constituents is determined by population, as determined by the last official decennial census adopted by the State. For offices which represent more than one county, the number of constituents is determined by the statewide population divided by the number of districts or circuits there are for that particular office. For local single-member district candidates, the number of constituents is determined by the population of the entire local area divided by the number of districts for that particular office. For candidates running at large the number of constituents is determined by the population of the area the office represents."

SECTION 2. Section 12-6-1140 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 49, Part II, Act 419 of 1998, is further amended by adding an appropriately numbered item at the end to read:

"( ) contributions to political campaigns in accordance with Section 8-13-1315."

SECTION 3. Article 9, Chapter 6, Title 12 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 12-6-1230. A taxpayer may deduct from South Carolina taxable income the amount of contributions to political campaigns in accordance with the provisions of Section 8-13-1315."

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and is effective for taxable years beginning after 2000.

This web page was last updated on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 11:07 A.M.