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Economics
B2B Stories

Lower unemployment taxes for South Carolina businesses

A robust economy paved the way for South Carolina to ease a tax paid by businesses. For the third year in a row, the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) tax rates will decrease or hold steady in 2024. Gov. Henry McMaster (R) made the announcement earlier this month, saying there is no better time to be in business in the Palmetto State. “The state’s leadership has worked hard to make strong financial decisions that maintain a healthy unemployment insurance trust fund which will benefit employers in the coming year,” said McMaster.

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 20, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Dividing the tax pie following huge event successes

It’s been a banner year for events in the CSRA and with that comes a healthy chunk of money collected through accommodation taxes. Building on those success stories and creating a new event resulted in requests for dividing up the bounty. The funds are collected through the state’s 2% accommodations tax (ATAX) from visitors staying in hotels and similar lodgings. North Augusta’s pot has grown steadily. In 2021, the city had $76,065 to distribute. That climbed to $140,450 last year. Members of the North Augusta Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee reviewed

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 15, 2023 No Comments
ABD Extra

Georgia filmmaking soon to be back in action?

118 Days after declaring an industry walkout, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating team announced the news that millions had long been waiting for: “We have reached a deal.” What does that mean for Georgia and specifically the CSRA? With the massive agreement comes the return of film to Georgia, and already a lot of high-profile projects are scuttling to get back to production. Clint Eastwood’s newest film, Juror #2, will soon begin shooting in Savannah. Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World will proceed with filming in Atlanta’s Trilith studios. While it isn’t yet

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Dylan James November 15, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Tiny sliver of light in local job level

On Friday, November 3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the U.S. unemployment rate for October inched up to 3.9% from 3.8% in September. The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs in October, down from 297,000 in September. Job gains were seen in healthcare and government while manufacturing employment fell due to strike activity. In Augusta, the most recent employment data is for September. The unemployment rate remains at 3.8% as it has been since May. The employment level is 245,300, up 1,200 from August. This is the highest employment

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Dr. Simon Medcalfe November 13, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

The arts pump millions of dollars into the CSRA economy

A picture isn’t just worth a thousand words, it turns out the arts are worth millions in jobs and dollars in the economy of Augusta and for our neighbors across the river. Last year, a study by American for the Arts found that arts and culture generated $24.6 million in spending by organizations and audiences specifically in Richmond County. Although non-profit organizations are tax-exempt, money spent by consumers on goods and services, including hotel lodging, meals, and purchases resulted in $2.8 million in local, state, and federal tax revenue. That

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 13, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Papa’s got a brand new arena in the bag. What’s next?

Approving the Construction Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (C-SPLOST) was just the first step to building a state-of-the-art James Brown Arena complex. Attorney Jim Plunkett, who serves as bond counsel for the city, joined members of the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority during a Nov. 9 meeting to lay out the path forward. He said it will begin with a meeting with the city finance department, city financial advisor, and legal counsel to work out the structure of the bond issue. “What that means is basically, whether this will be

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 12, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

First Lady Jill Biden’s visit praises economic and workforce development

For the second time this year, Augusta has welcomed First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden to tout economic growth and workforce development. In July, she visited Augusta Technical College. Wednesday’s visit brought her to the Aurubis Richmond, LLC plant under construction in the Augusta Corporate Park. Biden was first given a tour of several sections of the facility and was briefed by Aurubis COO, Inge Hofkens on what the plant will do when operational. Also on the tour were Aurubis CEO, Roland Harings, Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw, Richmond County School System (RCSS),

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 8, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Putting our country’s financial house in order

The week of Oct. 30 through Nov. 3 provided a significant amount of good news on the economic front for those of us in the United States. After a poor three-month run from August through most of October, all major U.S. equity indices (Dow Industrials, S&P 500, NASDAQ) were up between five and seven percent for the week. In addition, the Labor Department’s latest job report for October showed an increase of 150,000 jobs for the month, a less-than-expected increase and a much slower increase than in recent months, showing

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Dr. Rick Franza November 7, 2023 No Comments
B2B Stories

Augusta could see a visit from First Lady Jill Biden today

According to a Nov. 3 press release from the office of the mayor, First Lady Jill Biden is expected to visit Augusta today as part of the Investing in America Workforce Hub tour. She is scheduled to fly into Augusta Regional Airport with the interim Labor Secretary at 10 A.M. Though it is not yet confirmed which location she will visit, if any, the current presidential administration has recognized initiatives led by the City of Augusta, Mayor Garnet Johnson, Augusta Technical College, Aiken Technical College, the Richmond County School System,

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Staff Report November 7, 2023 No Comments
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