The S.C. General Assembly adjourned for the year Thursday without property tax relief for homeowners. Many lawmakers propose to spend the summer and fall vetting a variety of plans. As they do they should keep in mind a message from the S.C. Supreme Court: Assessed values on property taxes must be equal for all, not just those who live in highly desirable locations.

Lawmakers unleashed a barrage of ideas for property tax relief this year -- too many to consider to reach a consensus. Major among the half-dozen plans this year were attempts to freeze property values at the point of purchase and to replace property taxes with a sales tax.

Property taxes have been a source of contention between the General Assembly and Gov. Mark Sanford for a couple of years. The legislature last year approved a bill capping assessed values at 20 percent. Sanford vetoed the legislation in part because he said it violated the constitutional requirement that tax values be based on fair market value. The Supreme Court decision supported his thinking.

As lawmakers think about property taxes during the next six months, they should keep in mind that it takes more than hocus-pocus to create an equitable tax law. Locking property values at current assessment or selling price ignores the mandate that reassessment must occur every five years.

Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, writing in The Gazette's Community Forum last week, declared war on the property tax. Thomas said, "Citizens have been smacked by reassessment every five years, and that has amplified their property values far beyond the growth of their personal incomes."

He is correct that the system has placed a financial burden on people, especially those on fixed incomes, and relief is necessary.

The goal of helping longtime property owners and those on fixed incomes or in the lower-income bracket to keep their homes is noble. But changes must conform to the state's Constitution, or the Constitution must be changed. Changing the Constitution would take at least another year for relief without a special referendum.

Property owners are demanding relief no matter how it must be achieved. But lawmakers could provide a lasting service by not just examining property tax relief but by scrutinizing overall tax reform in South Carolina. Examining the sales tax, tax exemptions and the property tax through a comprehensive effort could do a lot to provide the answers property owners seek.