| Not All Businesses Honoring Sales Tax Holiday |
| (Columbia) - When South Carolina lawmakers
passed a property tax relief bill that will raise the state sales
tax, they included a sales tax holiday for Friday, November 24th and
Saturday the 25th. It says that shoppers won't have to pay the 5
percent sales tax on any purchases. The only exceptions are
accommodations and any related guest charges. But not all businesses are giving customers the break on sales tax. "Everywhere I went today, I've ran into that," says Ruby Zeigler of Columbia. She says some of the places she shopped charged the sales tax despite the fact that it's a tax-free weekend. "Well, I think it's a fraud! If you're not supposed to be taxed for anything, you're not supposed to. They shouldn't make a law if they're not going to go through with it," she says. She had just eaten lunch at a Waffle House, which continued to charge the sales tax statewide. Asked why the company wasn't following the sales tax holiday, public relations specialist Charnay Knight said, "It's our understanding, from what was posted on the Department of Revenue website, local hospitality taxes are not included, along with accommodations. We're in the hospitality industry so it doesn't apply to us." The Department of Revenue's ruling on the sales tax holiday does say that it doesn't apply to accommodations taxes or local hospitality taxes. But accommodations taxes apply to hotels and motels, and the department defines local hospitality taxes as additional taxes on food and beverages. They're passed by cities or counties and collected by them, so they're separate from the 5 percent state sales tax. Companies that don't comply with the sales tax holiday face the possibility of losing their licenses and being fined up to 150 percent of the taxes they wrongly collected. Sheila McMillan also ate at a Waffle House Friday. She hadn't noticed that the restaurant charged her sales tax, but got angry when she found out. "There are many, many people that will not speak up, and that's what they're counting on," she said. "They're still making the money." Anyone who feels they were wrongly charged sales tax during the tax-free period can contact the state Department of Revenue at 1-803-898-5788. The office is closed until Monday. |