(AP) -- A South Carolina House panel is backing tax breaks to spur renovations of blighted areas.
A Ways and Means subcommittee approved a measure Wednesday that gives a 25 percent state income tax credit to businesses that invest at least $500,000 in a building vacated for at least five years.
Democratic Rep. James Smith of Columbia says the measure has broad bipartisan support because it will bring jobs and economic development to all areas of the state.
The panel sent the measure on to the full committee after Mike Bedenbaugh of the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation testified it would generate about $20 in revenue for every dollar of tax credit.
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