Don Bowen figured he’d spend the rest of his life in the
three-bedroom home he built from scratch on the banks of Lake
Hartwell in Anderson County.
Then, three years ago, he got his first tax bill.
“I’m able to pay the $6,000 now,” says Bowen, a 60-year-old
retired personnel manager. “But down the road, if taxes keep going
up, there’s no way I’ll make it.”
Bowen soon became active in a group called SCNOTAX — one of
dozens of grass-roots organizations dedicated to lowering property
taxes.
“We have no money, and we’re struggling to get the message out,”
Bowen says. “But we’re making headway with hell-bent
determination.”
The organization is typical of the anti-tax movement, groups made
up of retirees, young professionals and working-class families.
For many members, including Bowen, contempt for property taxes is
a pocketbook issue.
For others, it’s a more ideologically driven battle against “big
government” and what they consider an infringement on their basic
liberty.
Whatever their motives, lawmakers ignore the groups at their own
peril.
The groups “are becoming militant,” says Sen. David Thomas,
R-Greenville. “I call it an all-out war on the reassessment system.
There’s a level of tolerance, and it’s at the breaking point.”
‘STAKE THROUGH ITS HEART’
Those screaming the loudest about property taxes are typically
homeowners, although local taxes also apply to businesses and
renters. Renters are hit when landlords pass the cost on to
them.
The issue largely centers on property reassessments — the
periodic adjustments to a home’s value that determine how much tax
the owner should pay.
Booming home values — especially on property near water — have
caused tax bills to rise rapidly and socked some owners with double-
or triple-digit increases in a few short years.
That’s a big deal for seniors on fixed incomes — like Lake
Hartwell’s Bowen — but also for middle-class homeowners who don’t
have much disposable income.
Low-income families living near tony cities like Mt. Pleasant
also have felt the pinch as new development springs up around aging
neighborhoods.
Today’s tax backlash is a replay of the mid-1990s, when residents
demanded relief from the General Assembly and local officials.
Lawmakers provided some help, such as the homestead exemption
that allowed seniors to deduct the first $50,000 of their home’s
value from their property tax bill. But taxes have crept back up due
to reassessments.
Enter groups like STOPTAX.org, which formed in Lexington County
in 2004.
President David Whetsell says the group has thousands of members
across the state.
The group lobbies for the elimination of all residential property
taxes. Whetsell says “half-measures” are unacceptable, adding that
many homeowners are angry the General Assembly hasn’t taken more
aggressive action to lower property taxes.
“We want to drive a stake through its heart,” says Whetsell, who
has seen his property tax bill go from $700 in 1998 to about $2,000
last year.
STOPTAX — and other interconnected local anti-property tax groups
— have embraced a bill sponsored by Sen. Thomas as their preferred
solution.
That plan would replace all residential property taxes with a
statewide 3-cent sales tax. The additional sales tax would offset
the portion of taxes that local schools receive and lower taxes on
groceries.
The tax swap — at least in theory — would protect seniors and
poor people, who buy fewer nonfood items.
The idea of increased reliance on a sales tax also is appealing
to those who see the property tax issue as a chance to limit
government, says Don Weaver, president of the S.C. Association of
Taxpayers.
“A sales tax is a much more even-handed brake on the growth of
government,” Weaver says. “Property taxes don’t reflect the overall
economy and don’t limit growth.”
‘HOW MUCH MORE ...?’
Just how much influence the anti-tax groups will have in the
General Assembly is yet to be seen.
The House and Senate have formed committees charged with drafting
legislation to reduce property taxes. Groups have come out in force
at public hearings throughout the state and have become a fixture in
legislative offices.
Their message is less than subtle: Do something about property
taxes before the end of the session in June or face stiff opposition
at the ballot box in 2006.
“We’re looking for change — radical change, if need be,” says Dan
Harvell, chairman of the Anderson County Taxpayers Association.
Lawmakers “are going to try to skate on this issue, but we’re not
going to let them.”
Harvell, a wedding photographer from Anderson, plans to decorate
an RV with his anti-property tax message and drive it around the
state during election season.
Some lawmakers have mixed emotions about the anti-tax groups.
On one hand, they invite the spirited political debate the groups
bring to the table. But they worry the groups either don’t
understand — or won’t acknowledge — the complexity of tax
reform.
For example, Whetsell is fond of saying, “It’s not hard, it’s
simple,” when he discusses overhauling the property tax system.
But experts disagree. They say any significant reform requires
careful study of long-term financial consequences.
Rep. Bill Cotty, R-Richland, who heads the House property tax
subcommittee, says some in the anti-tax movement are motivated by
self-interest rather than the greater good.
Specifically, Cotty worries about property tax fixes that could
hurt public schools. Education’s costs make up at least 60 percent
of local property tax bills.
“There are elements within the anti-tax movement that want to
blame everything on the public schools,” Cotty says. “Some say, ‘I
want mine and to heck with everybody else.’ It’s good to have that
attitude out in the open.”
Weaver, of the S.C. Taxpayers Association, denies the charge.
“Of course, we all realize there has to be government, there has
to be public education; that’s not a question,” he says. “But at
some point you have to ask, ‘How much more should I pay for these
things?’”
Reach Stensland at (803) 771-8358 or jstensland@thestate.com
