5 of the Best Incentives for Bringing Your Business to South Carolina
Named by industry experts to be the No. 1 state in the nation for economic development incentives — not to mention being chosen the fourth-best state in the U.S. for doing business and having the nation’s fourth-best business climate — South Carolina certainly stands out when it comes to choosing a place to locate a business.
And all these accolades are given for good reason. Consider this list of five top incentives for choosing the Palmetto State for opening, relocating or expanding your business:
- Business-friendly tax policies — Exhibiting the high value it places on business, South Carolina collects no property tax, no local income tax, no inventory tax, no wholesale tax, no unitary tax on worldwide profits, and no sales tax on manufacturing machinery, industrial power or materials for finished products. It also offers one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the Southeast, favorable corporate income tax structures, and a long list of corporate income tax incentives and credits.
- Plentiful discretionary incentives — To foster economic growth in South Carolina, the state offers a trio of grant funds and a range of additional incentives that can help businesses secure the capital they need to launch their projects. The grants deliver assistance including help with business costs related to locating in or expanding to South Carolina, such as those needed for site improvements; additional funding needed to recruit or retain in the state’s high-impact economic development areas; and expenses related to infrastructure and other area-development activities that enhance economic growth in the state’s rural regions. Incentive programs include a job development credit, a port volume increase credit and funds for retraining available employees for existing industry.
- Competitive advantages for manufacturers — South Carolina has three foreign trade zones in place to help U.S. companies compete with foreign alternatives in the areas of importing/exporting and manufacturing. Special procedures permitted in these zones allow for delayed or reduced duty payments on foreign merchandise, as well as other savings and logistical benefits — providing companies with the flexibility needed to manufacture in areas where such activities might otherwise be cost-prohibitive, and helping American companies better compete in the developing world market.
- Abundant Opportunity Zones — Created by the U.S. Congress in 2017 in an effort to encourage economic development and job creation in low-income urban and rural communities, Opportunity Zones provide federal tax deductions for businesses that invest in specific, governor-designated low-income community census tracts. Businesses residing in these designated Opportunity Zones, such as those found at the Camp Hall commerce park, enjoy benefits such as tax deferrals on any prior gains invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a 10% step-up-in-basis for the deferred gains on QOF investments held for five years or longer, and no capital gains taxes on the appreciation in Opportunity Fund investments held for at least 10 years.
- An educated and ready workforce — South Carolina is filled with highly trailed and available workers, and as of January 2020, the Charleston region in which Camp Hall resides boasted a ready and available workforce more than 500,000 strong. The region’s population is also growing by nearly 35 people a day, and large percentages of the region’s residents are highly educated — with 21% holding a bachelor’s degree and 11% holding a graduate degree or higher. Further, according to a 2019 labor study, nearly 65,000 underemployed workers reside within an hour’s drive of Camp Hall, with over 3,600 of those specializing in manufacturing. And looking forward, more than 40,000 students are enrolled in the area’s 24 colleges, universities and technical schools.
When companies choose next-generation commerce park Camp Hall as a site for establishing, expanding or relocating their business, its location in Berkeley County, South Carolina, gives them the potential to harness all of the above-mentioned incentives — but the benefits of Camp Hall don’t end there. The commerce park resides in a region featuring a strong and highly educated workforce, and the park itself provides all the infrastructure and conveniences needed to power the most modern of today’s businesses … as well as the businesses of tomorrow. To see all the benefits Camp Hall can provide to support your business’s needs, visit the Camp Hall website. To learn more about campus availability for your business plans, view our available sites. And if you have any questions at all about our master-planned commerce park, don’t hesitate to contact us today.