An anti-property tax group formed in Charleston aims to flex its political muscle as the state legislative session begins, with newspaper advertisements, a paid lobbyist, and a protest at the Capitol patterned after the Boston Tea Party.

Picture grandfatherly South-of-Broad residents waving tea bags at lawmakers.

"All across the state, homeowners are fed up with this unfair, out-of-control tax," said Emerson B. Read Sr., 80, a real estate broker who founded NoHomeTax.org after seeing the property tax bill on his King Street home rise from $8,698 in 2004 to $13,400 last year.

The goal of NoHomeTax.org, which Read believes will unite voters across the state, is the abolition of property taxes on homes. It would be replaced by higher sales taxes. Last month, the organization laid out a $100,000-plus plan to hire a strategist and a lobbyist, and buy ads advocating tax reform.

Counties, school districts, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and advocates for people with low incomes generally oppose swapping the property tax for higher sales taxes, but supporters hope that lawmakers will respond to irate homeowners.

"We're hoping that reforming the property tax will be one of the first things on the agenda," said Eugene Geer, a NoHomeTax committee member who lives on East Battery.

Read, Geer, and some other committee members, like downtown physician Jack Simmons, have lived in their Charleston homes for decades and now have five-figure property tax bills because their homes' values have skyrocketed with the rising real estate market.

"I don't mind paying taxes, but there's got to be a fairer way of doing it," said Simmons. "I just want to live in my home without getting run out by taxes."

Most members of the NoHomeTax committee live in downtown Charleston or on Sullivan's or Kiawah islands.

The average value of their homes is $1.6 million, which in Charleston will get you a tax bill like Read's. Simmons and Geer said their tax bills were about $14,000 last year.

Statewide, the median value of an owner-occupied, single-family home was $114,000 in 2004, the Census Bureau estimated. Such a home would be taxed in the hundreds of dollars, in most counties, due to existing tax relief programs.

The property tax is often despised because of its complex nature and the unpredictable, large increases that can follow reassessments or the crafting of school district budgets.

House and Senate lawmakers are drafting several reform proposals, some of which call for shifting the tax burden to sales taxes, which opponents say would be unfair to businesses and those with lower incomes. Geer said he hopes to see 1,000 people at the Capitol on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

"Hopefully a few hundred at least, to show the legislators that people are serious," he said. "This is like a big salute to let them know we mean business."

Contact David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.