COLUMBIA - The state House killed a golf course tax-relief bill Wednesday after members saw that debate would take too much time away from other measures before Friday's deadline to send bills to the Senate.

"We're very disappointed because we were after a tax correction, not tax relief," said George Hilliard, director of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association, which includes about 80 courses in Horry and Georgetown counties.

The bill would have granted $7.2 million in tax relief to golf courses by changing the way their property taxes are calculated from one based mainly on fair market value to one based mostly on income.

Hilliard said golf course owners want a change from the system in which many of them are overvalued for tax purposes, and when they appeal, the levies are reduced by as much as half.

"What we're trying to do, and we'll try again, is to get a consistent method of taxing golf courses, and golf courses will know what it will be, and it will be a standard way of doing it," Hilliard said.

Debate on the issue in the House included comments that golf course owners might be successful in a tax method change that does not result in $7.2 million in taxes being shifted to other property owners.

"This is pretty pathetic," said Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia. A change in the way golf courses are taxed should result in revenue close to what they are currently paying, not shift costs to others, he said.

"Should we take care of tennis courts next?" he asked.

Rep. Ken Kennedy, D-Greeleyville, read a list of unemployment numbers in about a dozen counties. People in those counties would have to help pay for golf course tax relief, he said.

The bill should be called "Leave No Golf Course Behind," Kennedy said, referring to the No Child Left Behind Act that seeks to lift school performance and standards.

At that point, a motion was made to end debate on the bill, effectively killing it for the session.

Rep. Liston Barfield, R-Aynor, said it became obvious that the bill did not have enough support and that the leadership wanted to use the remaining time for measures that had more chance of passing.

Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, said he is concerned that golf course tax assessment appeals will increase and Horry County will lose more than the $1.5 million it was estimated to lose.

The S.C. Golf Course Owners Association said if relief did not pass this year, the organization intends to appeal every golf course assessment in the state.

A similar Senate bill was blocked by an opponent and also did not pass in time for consideration this year.