Property owners might think relief is on the way with an S.C. Senate proposal to cut in half property taxes used for school operating costs by increasing the sales tax. Loosely defined, it might be called relief -- from one tax.

But as state Treasurer Grady L. Patterson told Beaufort Rotarians on Wednesday, tax relief is no simple solution. Patterson said that as long as taxes balance out, it is OK to do some shifting.

The average taxpayer might see property taxes cut in half, but the proposed 2- to 3-cent sales tax increase is a regressive tax that will affect not only the poor, but property owners as well. As Patterson points out, a free lunch doesn't exist.

A sales tax will cost the less affluent and the poor a disproportionate share their income. Those who have the least will pay the greatest percentage of income. Property owners also will pay the sales tax, but a reduction in property taxes also might affect the income tax they pay.

Senators say that legislation will be written before the end of the year and also might raise the ceiling on vehicle sales tax at point of purchase, reducing or eliminating property tax on real property as well as vehicles.

This is simply a substitution of one tax for another. Lawmakers might call it what they will, but it is just a relabeling of taxes. Property owners might need tax relief, but the state should maintain a three-tiered plan that doesn't concentrate all its eggs in one basket. And lawmakers must be honest about who it will help and who it will hurt.