Printer Version
Email This Article
The Supreme Court's ruling this week again was rendered in a 3-year-old Charleston County case which political figures from the governor to council members have watched. Charleston's reassessment cap issue began in 2001, when the county council tried to limit reassessment's effect on homes that soared in value during the 1990s. The council capped the value of owner-occupied homes at 15 percent. Thousands of homeowners got a break but owners of more than 90,000 other properties paid more. The cap and inequities surrounding it set off a series of lawsuits, and the Supreme Court ruled that the county incorrectly limited the cap to owner-occupied homes.
In Beaufort County, the arguments against a tax cap has been about ritzy neighborhoods and homes vs. more modest homes. The S.C. legislature got into the act by passing a 20 percent assessment cap, which now awaits Gov. Mark Sanford's veto or signature. The governor should veto the bill because it is bad legislation. A Clemson University analysis completed for Beaufort County supports conclusions reached across the county on a cap on assessed value: The cap mostly benefits those who own expensive property. If the goal is to help long-time property owners and those on fixed income or those in the lower income bracket to keep their homes, this isn't the way to do it. According to the Clemson study, such a law would shift the burden from the highest-valued homes to more modest-valued homes.
In Beaufort County, though, the debate has risen to another level. It's now a "been here" vs. "come here" issue. The "come here latelies" say that they pay more than those people who have lived here for five years or longer. County Assessor Bernice Wright says that argument doesn't hold water because no one is paying taxes on the most recent sales price of a house. Current taxes are based on 5-year-old assessments.
This much is known, though. The total increase in property value countywide was 73 percent and some property has been valued at 300 percent or more of its previous value.
The only way to make sure that everyone pays taxes on the current value of a property is to reassess every year instead of every five years. The assessor says that Beaufort and several other counties should have the ability to reassess every year, rather than every five years. It would still be up to each county to control spending and thus the amount of taxes that a person pays on their property. Fast-growing counties like Beaufort, Charleston and Horry require more money to provide services to all those people moving into an area. The growth drives taxes higher.
Yearly reassessment is an option that the legislature should consider offering to counties when the House and Senate convene in January.
In the meantime, the 20 percent tax cap should be abandoned. If lawmakers want do something to help people hang onto their property, they could supplement the homestead exemption that already exists for elderly homeowners by including means-based relief. Homeowners and renters below a certain income could receive a tax credit; or limit property tax increases to a certain percentage for low-income homeowners who have owned their property for a specified period of time; or limit the eligibility for the property tax cap to homes with assessments below a specified value, such as $200,000.
The issue is complex and may require the wisdom of a modern-day King Solomon to solve. But one thing isfor sure, the Supreme Court says all solutions should be equitable and not just a long-term insurance policy for the owners of pricey property.
