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Web posted Sunday, July 4,
2004
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Editorial: Governor should veto property tax
cap ASAP
Carolina Morning News
The
General Assembly was wrong to pass a statewide
property tax reassessment cap on its last day in
session, and Gov. Mark Sanford should veto it as
soon as possible.
We have made the argument
before on these pages that an across-the-board
property tax cap results in some property owners
subsidizing the taxes of other, usually wealthier
property owners. We are not alone in making this
argument; a variety of well-respected
organizations agree, including Clemson
University's Jim Self Center on the Future, which
specifically tailored a cap study to Beaufort
County.
The legislators should have done
their homework. We wonder if they were even aware
that each county already has the authority to
impose a reassessment cap, and only one county has
done so. If they knew that, why did they feel a
statewide 20 percent cap made any sense? If they
didn't know about the powers specifically granted
to each county, we hope they are using their time
away from Columbia to read some
newspapers.
Beaufort County finds itself in
possibly the worst situation in the state while
the governor mulls his decision. The County
Council has already delayed reassessment for a
year, trying to make up its own mind on a 15
percent reassessment cap, which it ultimately
decided against. The county can't get another
delay, so it must remain ready to mail uncapped
reassessment notices in early August while also
preparing to calculate alternate notices if the 20
legislation goes into effect prior to the mailing
date.
We will give the legislators the
benefit of the doubt and assume that they
instituted a cap in an effort to keep poor people
from being taxed off their land. They have to
know, however, that a property tax cap is not the
best way to do that, since it is far more
beneficial to the state's richest people than its
poorest.
The Legislature could better
address the tax problems of the poor by coming up
with some legislation that would allow counties to
base a property cap on income related to property
values and tax owed. That is currently not an
option.
As Boston Red Sox fans have been
known to say, maybe next year.
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