Greenville County's next tax choice appears simple, but isn't: sales tax or property tax?

An optional one-penny hike in the local sales tax could further reduce your property tax bill, and the County Council has moved to take up the idea of a swap.

Already, state tax reform means the biggest slice of your property tax bill disappears next year.

But some sales tax changes are already in the works, which means another hike would amount to 7 cents on the dollar for some items you buy. Some local business owners fear some people might seek lower sales taxes outside the county.

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Also, a new study shows that such tax swaps often lead to more government spending overall, and one council member says there's simply too much risk that choosing the sales tax might increase your total taxes in the long run.

At issue is a long-running plea from local taxpayers to get rid of the property tax. At least five of them confronted Councilman Joe Dill as he shopped in Wal-Mart on Saturday.

"They don't mind paying the sales tax," Dill said.

The swap option may not work, he said, but it bears a look as the latest option in the moving puzzle of property tax reform.

Some sales tax changes are already in place.

Beginning Oct. 1, the sales tax on unprepared food will drop from 5 percent to 3 percent, saving you some money on the grocery bill.

Meanwhile, the sales tax on everything but food, accommodations and capped items such as automobiles increases from 5 percent to 6 percent next June.

Whether voters will be keen to add another penny -- putting some sales taxes at 7 cents a dollar -- remains to be seen.

Greer resident Bob Swiler said he would be comfortable with it, although he would vastly prefer more accountability first -- particularly for school spending. Philosophically, though, he would rather the government tax people's spending habits than their property.

"It's time for those people who want to spend frivolously to pick up some of the tab," Swiler said.

Fresh off an emotional debate over property tax reassessment, Dill recently asked county staffers to prepare a presentation on the tax swap so the council can be sure it's extending property tax relief as far as possible.

After his Wal-Mart experience on Saturday, Dill said he plans to call County Administrator Joe Kernell today for details on a possible swap.

Kernell said he's not yet seen figures yet, such as how much revenue a penny sales tax would generate and how much the county could reduce property taxes.

The County Council could put the matter to a voter referendum, or citizens can petition to get it put on the ballot, according to county finance officials.

The so-called "local option sales tax" is nothing new, and a new study by the conservative South Carolina Policy Council shows that although it was introduced to provide property tax relief, it has instead been used as a way to collect more total tax revenue.

In many cases, the report said property tax millage was increased anyway, even after the implementation of a sales tax that was supposed to provide property tax relief.

The reason, according to the study, is that tax swaps give local government money from state coffers -- sales taxes, for example -- instead of making them collect it locally.

"The connection between raising revenues and spending them is then severed," wrote the report's author, Neil Mellen. "The locals have an incentive to overstate their needs."

Greenville County currently doesn't have a local option sales tax.

Councilman Scott Case said he hadn't seen the study, but has argued all along that a local option sales tax amounts to incomplete tax relief.

"The problem with it is there's no guarantee that (property tax) millage won't come back," Case said.

He added, "Unless it's a permanent replacement that cannot be increased, no, I couldn't support it."

Dill agreed that the lack of a guarantee that property taxes won't rebound in the future is "one real minus" of the tax swap idea.

"That's something that could happen," he said. "I don't think it would happen with (Greenville) County."

Council Chairman Butch Kirven said he has yet to closely study the issue.

Local businessman Hank Meyer, who helps commercial property owners negotiate lower property tax bills, said a shift toward more sales taxes means more money the county has to rely on the state to provide.

"It's got a chance of working in Greenville County because we've got a big retail base," he said, but added that once the sales tax reaches 7 percent, the county risks driving shoppers elsewhere.

"We've got to stop doing things that give businesses an excuse not to come," Meyer said.