COLUMBIA - What South Carolinians want versus who's going to write the check. That, in essence, is the property tax debate.

"I think there's a very small minority screaming bloody murder for something that's not a state problem," Rep. Robert "Skipper" Perry, R-Aiken, said. "From the standpoint of people in Aiken, I'd like to leave (the property tax) like it is."

Yet Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, calls changing the state's property tax system the No. 1 issue of the upcoming legislative session.

"We have to make sure that people can own a home and stay in their own home without being taxed off their property," she said.

Mr. Perry and Ms. Ceips represent two sides of a momentous debate under way at the state Capitol: whether to eliminate South Carolina's property tax, perhaps in favor of a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in sales tax.

Committees are already at work, wrangling over whether to "fix" the property tax, leave it as is or do away with it altogether.

It's a complex issue. Concerns include how a new system would affect school funding and worries that, without a property tax on homes, businesses will be overburdened.

But the backbone of the discussion might be a battle over values: What government should pay for and who should foot the bill.

Mr. Perry said a few taxes are worth what he gets in return.

"City of Aiken, I get police department, I get fire department, I get a nice rec department, I get pretty parks," he said.

But lawmakers in favor of eliminating the property tax argue that it is getting out of hand, especially in high-growth areas such as the coastline.

In those areas, Ms. Ceips said, escalating real estate values are pushing property taxes beyond some people's ability to pay.

"People have for generations lived on the same property," and now that is threatened, she said.

Some Aiken neighborhoods have become quite desirable, and real estate values have risen as a result, Aiken County Assessor Mike Reed said.

There is a payoff, though, for those higher taxes, he said.

"You're worth more," he said.

There's a trade-off, too.

If the state eliminates one pot of money, revenue has to come in from somewhere else or someone else.

Therein lies the problem, Mr. Perry said.

"If you put it on the sales tax, then you're going to (hurt) the middle class and lower-income taxpayers," he said.

Rising property taxes are not a statewide problem, he said. In many areas, real estate values are steady and property taxes remain relatively low. Those homeowners likely will be hurt by any tax shift, Mr. Reed said.

"The people who don't have much of a house in the first place, they'll probably end up spending more on sales tax than they did in property taxes," he said.

Mr. Perry said taxpayers do have some control over property taxes. Services cost money, and taxpayers have to decide what they want and whether they are willing to pay for it, he said. If they don't like local governments' decisions, residents can vote officials out of office, he said.

"If we could all not pay taxes, we would all love it," he said. But, he said, "People have to understand, they get something for their taxes."