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SC Gov. touts budget in his annual address

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster gave his State of the State address Wednesday night in Columbia. He touted the state’s economy and his legislative priorities for the year. McMaster cited a $1.8 billion surplus and cutting the state’s income tax rate from 7% to 6% over five years.

"We should not stop at 6%. As I say, competition is fierce. We should keep cutting as much as we can as fast as we can until we can eliminate the personal income tax for our people altogether," he said to applause.

But state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews said the state’s budget couldn’t be as robust as McMaster described since lawmakers are still trying to unravel a $1.8 billion discrepancy in the treasury

"That ultimately led to the resignations of the Comptroller General and the auditor. Last year Treasurer Loftus testified under oath that he knew where the $1.8 billion was and that it had earned over $250 million in interest. Now they say the $1.8 billion never even existed," she said.

She said the buck stops with the governor and cited $15 million spent on an audit to figure out what happened.

Woody is a Charlotte native who came to WFAE from the world of NASCAR where he was host of NASCAR Today for MRN Radio as well as a pit reporter, turn announcer and host of the NASCAR Live pre race show for Cup Series races. Before that, he was a news anchor at WBT radio in Charlotte, a traffic reporter, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s University City Magazine, News/Sports Director at WEGO-AM in Concord and a Swiss Army knife in local cable television. His first job after graduating from Appalachian State University was news reporter at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis. Along the way he’s covered everything from murder trials and a national political convention to high school sports and minor league baseball.