Germane: It means whatever lawmakers say it does

By Jamie Murguia | for The Nerve

In two days of a special session in October 2009, the General Assembly passed a major economic development bill granting Boeing more than $170 million in taxpayer-financed incentives. Originally, the bill had nothing to do with Boeing or special incentives at all; it had to do with assessable transfers of interest of real property. That didn’t matter. The bill was gutted by the Senate Finance Committee and transformed into a gigantic incentives package for a single company.

In 2011 the General Assembly passed a bill granting a special tax break for Amazon.com that allowed the company to avoid collecting sales taxes on purchases made by South Carolina residents through 2015. Originally, the bill had nothing to do with Amazon or incentives. It exempted durable medical equipment from sales tax.

at The Nerve.

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