Veto needed on tax cap bill

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Gov. Mark Sanford has 15 bills sitting on his desk that he has neither vetoed nor signed into law since the Legislature adjourned in early June. It's curious that he still hasn't acted on one bill that especially is deserving of his veto stamp.

The legislation is bad for a number of reasons that should resonate with the governor. For openers, the culprit in this case is a piece of bobtailed legislation, and Gov. Sanford has made known his principled opposition to attaching unrelated amendments to legislation. And from there, the amended law should get the ax because it fundamentally changes this state's property tax system, and in a way that will hurt many people who pay property tax. If that's not enough, the bill is legally suspect because it passed on the last day of the legislative session with a voice vote in both chambers, and state law requires an exemption to the property tax law to have a two-thirds vote of both houses.

A spokesman for the governor said in June that Sanford and his staff are researching the bill. A similar answer was given to the Associated Press last week, when the AP reported Sanford has until midnight Jan. 12 to act on all the bills or they become law without his signature.

The governor should veto H.3065, which sets up procedures for overdue tax collections, because it was amended to contain a key part of H.3689. The amendment is dangerous for how it distorts our property tax system. It also is unfair for how it shifts the tax burden for people who live in more expensive homes to those who have more modest homes or to businesses and renters.

The bill would put in place a 20 percent cap on property reassessment for those in residential, commercial and agricultural classifications. That surely appeals to people who hate to see their property tax bills go up after a countywide reassessment increases the property's value.

But instead of lowering everyone's tax bill, this legislation really would create artificial winners and losers after each reassessment. Counties must adjust their millage after each reassessment so they don't lose money. So unless someone is lucky enough to have their tax lowered because of this legislation, they will end up paying more — and subsidizing wealthier property owners as a result.

The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce has opposed this property tax cap law. The Chamber commissioned a study (done by Miley & Associates) that looked at seven of the nine counties currently undergoing property value reassessments. In those counties, "11 percent of the tax base would be shifted from the capped properties to those unaffected by the cap," the study found.

This was a bad law that wasn't examined in broad daylight. It was slipped onto another bill and passed on the last day of the legislative session. It will hurt many small businesses, restaurants, renters and owners of less expensive homes. Gov. Sanford should veto this horrible piece of legislation.