Cut Taxes? Voters Don’t Know if Joe Cunningham Pays Taxes

COLUMBIA, SC —  Democrat candidate for governor Joe Cunningham’s campaign recently discussed tax policy with a reporter. Even as Governor Henry McMaster signed the largest tax cut in history, the article pointed out, Cunningham is “pledging to out-cut Republicans on taxes.”

There is one big problem: Cunningham is running around talking about cutting taxes without releasing tax returns and revealing precisely how he generates income and supports his family.

“Cut taxes? The voters don’t even know if Joe pays taxes,” said McMaster-Evette campaign manager Mark Knoop.

Last month, the governor released tax returns to members of the media. Release of these returns keeps up the tradition of the governor, and major party candidates for the state’s highest office, showing voters what they do for a living. The governor previously released tax returns dating all the way back to 2000 – an unprecedented level of transparency.

At the time, Cunningham promised to release his tax returns. But more than two weeks later, there is still no word from Cunningham on when voters will see who pays him and what they pay him for.

“Two weeks is more than enough time for Joe Cunningham to come clean. He should, once and for all, release his tax returns,” said Knoop. “The voters deserve to know what potential conflicts of interest he has, who pays him, and what he is paid to do. Anything less than quickly producing tax returns dating back, at least, to 2017, when he first started running for office, raises more questions than answers about a guy who appears to have spent more time campaigning than working over the last half-decade.”