State House members soundly rejected an attempt Wednesday to override Gov. Mark Sanford's veto of a bill that would have limited increases in a property's taxable value.

The move was defeated on a 33-76 vote. It required a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and Senate to become law.

The bill would have capped increases in the taxable value of a property at 20 percent during reassessment years. Lawmakers passed the legislation last June, when Sen. Scott Richardson,

R-Hilton Head Island, amended it onto another tax-related bill in the final days of the 2004 legislative session.

Sanford vetoed the bill in December, saying he was concerned that it would violate the state constitution, which requires that properties be taxed at fair market value. Wednesday's action means the bill officially is dead, but many legislators have said they will push the General Assembly to pass different legislation that would restructure the state's system of property taxes.

Beaufort County officials have said if the reassessment cap had become law, they could have had to refund about $40 million in taxes with no way to make up the funds until future years. Then, they would have had to raise the countywide tax rate to compensate for the lost funds.

Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, strongly supported the cap. He chided his colleagues for not considering low-income people whose families have owned the same land for generations but suddenly are seeing significant spikes in property taxes.

"These folks, they're on a fixed income," he said. "Land that's been in their families for years, they're losing this year because we're afraid to cap this tax."

But while many lawmakers said they thought the bill was a good first step toward making the property tax system fairer, other concerns won the day.

Rep. Thayer Rivers, D-Ridgeland, summed up opponents' worries, noting that if owners of valuable property get a tax break, then the tax burden will be shifted to owners of less valuable property.

"We're not capping the costs of the sheriff's department, the fire department, the school system, or any other cost that the counties have," Rivers said. "That's wonderful, that's free lunch, but guess what? There still has to be 'X' number of dollars raised to fund that county."

Several Beaufort County lawmakers, including Richardson and Herbkersman, along with Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, and Rep. Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head, supported the effort in the legislature. But county officials had opposed the legislation, with the council voting 7-3 on Monday to encourage the county Legislative Delegation to oppose the bill and sustain the governor's veto.

In 2004, Beaufort County completed its first countywide property reassessment in six years. It resulted in some properties increasing as much as 800 percent in value, angering and confusing many landowners.

Officials with the Town of Hilton Head Island have asked County Council to explain why property assessments increased so much while the tax rate did not decrease by what they see as a commensurate amount.

While county administrator Gary Kubic wouldn't take a position on whether the cap was a good idea, he said he was "relieved in the sense that the mechanical delivery of a 20 percent cap would have caused us some difficulties in making sure (of) the accuracy and adjustments and billing of everything."

In other action Wednesday, the House voted to override the governor's veto of a bill co-sponsored by Herbkersman that would allow acupuncturists to practice without a doctor's supervision.