Property taxes for South Carolina homeowners, compared to those in most of the country, actually are quite low. For example, my sister in a suburb of Philadelphia, a retired secretary, owns a modest home whose market value is barely a fourth of mine in Charleston. Yet, our property taxes are almost the same.

Let us first understand that South Carolina homeowners, in recognition of the social value in promoting home ownership, already get a substantial tax break in terms of "assessment." Owner-occupied homes are assessed at four percent of appraised value. In other words, a home "appraised" at $100,000 market value is "assessed" at $4,000. Homeowners over 65 get additional tax relief. In contrast, the assessment rate for rental housing or commercial property is six percent, 50 percent higher than for homeowners.

The current protest over high property taxes is coming mainly from owners of primary residences or resort homes that have shot up in value. But it would be hardly fair to say that the owner of an older house should forever pay less than a neighbor who more recently bought or built a home of comparable value. The purpose of reassessment is to keep taxes for property of comparable value the same, a policy based on fairness

But what about the retired person with reduced income whose home increases in value and who truly finds it difficult to pay his or her taxes? If such a person is forced to sell a home they've occupied for decades because its value has increased, the crusaders for getting rid of property taxes like to declare, "It's not fair."

They're right, but a majority of other states already have developed a simple solution that the Legislature could easily adapt. It's called a "circuit breaker." Such plans basically allow those who qualify on the basis of age and income to defer property taxes on their home until either sale of their home or death. The Legislature could easily pass such a law and resolve the one great inequity that advocates of abolishing property taxes like to cite. In addition, an easy form of tax relief for homeowners, one fair to all, would be to reduce the current four percent rate of assessment to three. It would reduce taxes for all homeowners. Such a change would require an amendment to the state constitution, and voters no doubt would overwhelmingly approve.

Before South Carolina rushes into untested waters that promise to create havoc in the way the public pays for local governmental services, the Legislature may want to take a deep breath as it begins to recognize the complex repercussions of moving too quickly. Enacting a circuit-breaker provision and reducing the assessment ratio on owner-occupied homes would provide genuine relief and create time for careful study and deliberation to hammer out a fair, equitable, and reliable tax structure. House Speaker Bobby Harrell's ideas for removing outdated sales tax exemptions, for example, could be considered in a larger context. The goal should be sound policy that benefits the public as a whole.

Jack Bass, a professor of humanities and social sciences at the College of Charleston, is author or co-author of seven books about political and social change in the modern South.