Wildlife, SC poor need more help

Maggie Angst’s article in The Island Packet covering the Aug. 22 meeting of the Beaufort County Council’s Natural Resources Committee stated, “In the last two years, the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston has treated 17 sea turtles that have been affected by plastic pollution.”

Rikki Parker of the Coastal Conservation League added afterwards: “There’s a direct link between plastic bags and the harm that we see to sea turtles and our sea and shore birds, so it’s great that Beaufort County has started the process in solving that problem.”

Opposition to this effort to keep floating plastic bags from killing sea life comes not only from the plastic bag lobby but also the Greater Bluffton Republican Club. According to its web site, it is concerned that a bag tax will follow a bag ban, thus disproportionately impacting the poor of Beaufort County.

Perhaps the club could consider calling for state legislation to help those less well-off in Beaufort County with more than free plastic bags.

The National Conference of State Legislatures web site states that in addition to the federal government, 26 states and the District of Columbia offer Earned Income Tax Credits “designed to help low- to moderate-income, working people.” Even though South Carolina has a state income tax, it does not offer a state IETC. In 2015, the federal EITC amount for South Carolina was $1.2 billion, averaging $2,504 for 494,000 South Carolina recipients.

The poor of South Carolina and our wildlife both need help.

This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Wildlife, SC poor need more help."