COLUMBIA -- House lawmakers approved a property tax overhaul Wednesday night that would swap a 2-cent sales tax increase for most homeowner property taxes.

Part of the plan would have to be approved by voters in November. And the whole plan must first go before the Senate, where passage isn't assured.

Voters would be asked to change property reassessments from every five years to the time the property is sold, transferred or significantly improved. They also would be asked to decide whether to eliminate most property taxes from owner-occupied homes.

Another part of the plan, approved late Wednesday night 86-31, would swap a 2-cent sales tax increase for most homeowner property taxes and eliminate the sales tax on food.

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House members debated the package into the evening, arguing over its impact on local governments, schools, jobs and the poor.

Rep. Joe Neal, a Richland County Democrat, said raising the sales tax would hurt border counties, add $1,500 to the cost of a new home and cause more trouble for the poor and unemployed.

"We may be creating future generations that will know poverty in a way that we can scarcely imagine," he said. "We could have done a better job."

But House Speaker Bobby Harrell said there are plenty of good reasons to support the bill and plenty of people who want lawmakers to change the state's property tax system.

Among dozens of failed amendments was one to give renters a tax credit of up to $750 a year.

"You have taken care of rich people all day long," said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an Orangeburg Democrat. "This is aimed at working people who can barely make ends meet."

Hunter Howard, president of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, said he was "disappointed" by the legislation.

"We feel like it's an enormous step backward for the economic future of our state," he said. "We have some real concerns."

Chamber officials have said lawmakers shouldn't increase the sales tax more than a penny and should target the relief for homeowners who need it most, such as those on fixed incomes.

At a press conference earlier in the day, officials with the Urban Chambers of Commerce, including a representative from Spartanburg, urged lawmakers to study property taxes more.

Ike McLeese, a spokesman for the group, said the bill would make the state's sales tax the nation's highest and shift more of the tax burden to business.

Businesses here would compete with adjoining states with lower sales taxes, he said.

"Forget about creating jobs," he said. "We won't even be able to sustain the jobs we have already have if this measure is allowed to pass."

Rep. Bill Cotty, a Columbia Republican, proposed lowering business assessments and keeping some of the sales tax on food.

That amendment outraged Democrats and was tabled.

Rep. Harry Ott, leader of House Democrats and a supporter of property tax relief, argued lawmakers should focus only on removing school operating costs from tax bills, the aim of a Senate tax-relief plan.

He later offered an amendment to cut the food tax by a penny and give senior citizens a tax rebate of more than $100.

That failed, as did proposals to cap property-tax relief, target it to senior citizens and disabled homeowners and increase the sales tax cap on cars to $500.

The change to the state's Constitution, which would go to voters this fall, passed the House 102-17. The bill must receive final approval today before going to the Senate.

One of the few amendments to the legislation approved by the House would place a spending cap on local governments.