Joe Wilson

All five House Republicans in South Carolina’s congressional delegation joined 67 colleagues Thursday in insisting they won’t accept a deal from the deficit-reduction “super committee” that includes tax increases.

Just six days before the debt panel’s Nov. 23 deadline, the 72 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to its 12 members, among them U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, vowing to resist any effort to use “increased revenues” – Washington code for tax hikes – to help lower the federal deficit.

“Increasing taxes on Americans would destroy jobs, erase all hope of an economic recovery and simply serve to feed out-of-control spending in Washington,” the Republican representatives wrote.

With more anti-tax signers than any state except Texas and Tennessee, South Carolina’s four freshman Republicans and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of Lexington County are positioned to reprise their summertime roles as spoilers. During the debt-ceiling crisis, they forced House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to pull a compromise bill from the House floor.

“We’re not $15 trillion in debt because we tax Americans too little,” U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, said Thursday. “We’re $15 trillion in debt because we spend too much money.”

Congress on Aug. 2 enacted a law that raised the federal debt limit in exchange for mandated future deficit reductions.

The law set up a “super committee” – with six Republicans and six Democrats; three from the Senate and three from the House – and gave it until Nov. 23 to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over 10 years.

If the panel fails to reach a deal by next Wednesday, or if Congress doesn’t approve its recommendations by Dec. 23, cuts totaling $1.5 trillion would be imposed, to be split equally between defense and non-military programs.

Clyburn said Thursday the chances were “50-50” the super committee would reach an accord by Wednesday. Asked when he last had a productive conversation with a GOP member of the panel, he chuckled and disappeared into a closed-door strategy session with other Democrats.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a panel member elected to the Senate last year with the aid of major campaign contributions from Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of Greenville, is floating a plan that would raise taxes by $400 billion over a decade, mainly by closing loopholes and eliminating deductions for more affluent filers.

Toomey’s proposal also would lower the tax rates in the IRS’s four main income tiers, increase other revenues through entitlement program reforms and impose $800 in spending cuts to produce a net deficit-reduction of $1.2 trillion as Congress required in creating the panel.

Despite his strong campaign support for Toomey last year, DeMint on Nov. 3 sent the super committee a letter, signed by 32 other Republican senators, opposing any “net tax increase” as part of its eventual deal.

The five S.C. House Republicans also oppose any tax increase.

“We must create a healthy and productive environment for our job creators, and raising taxes simply does not do so,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, R-North Charleston. “While it may seem counterintuitive, lowering taxes actually increases government revenues by providing more opportunity for American families.”

The 72 GOP lawmakers sent their letter to the super committee a day after a bipartisan group of more than 150 representatives and senators urged the panel to “go big,” reducing the deficit by $4 trillion by tax increases, spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

That idea is similar to President Barack Obama’s call for a balanced mix of higher taxes, spending cuts and changes to Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs.

Courtesy of The State