COLUMBIA - State senators balked Monday at a House proposal to completely remove property taxes from residences but later adopted two provisions that bring the competing plans closer together.

A Senate property tax subcommittee voted for a second time against removing all property taxes from owner-occupied homes as proposed in a House tax-relief package by Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

Harrell's proposal, which the House property tax committee is expected to support at its meeting Wednesday, would eliminate property taxes on owner-occupied homes by raising the state sales tax by 2 cents.

During opening remarks at the meeting, senators were quick to judge the proposal as too lavish and unrealistic.

Some committee members questioned the practicality of allowing the state to take on the role of doling out money to counties and cities from the pot of state sales tax revenues.

"I obviously would love to see that, but in my opinion, it's not workable," said Sen. Hugh Leatherman, a Florence Republican and tax committee co-chairman. "I have real concerns about taking over city and county financing."

Harrell said there are multiple ways of distributing the funds, including a per capita allocation, a current "aid to subdivisions" formula in the budget or a new procedure. "The goal is to totally eliminate property tax on homes. The details are something we can work out," he said.

House members advertise their proposal as a straightforward, understandable approach to property tax relief. But not all lawmakers are swallowing the line.

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Beaufort said, "I don't want the House coming up here in January and February and rushing through some real simplistic, real looks-good piece of legislation so they can all go home and file for election, and then we get stuck doing the heavy lifting, which has happened before."

The Senate's plan uses the revenues from a 2-cent sales tax increase to spread relief to more taxpayers. On average, the proposal would reduce by 50 percent the property taxes on residences, renter-occupied units, second homes, cars and other personal property such as boats.

After all the rhetoric critical of Harrell's plan, senators embraced two concepts from the House proposal: a sales tax exemption for all groceries and a new reassessment method that re-evaluates property only when it is substantially improved or transfers ownership.

Senators originally put the sales tax on groceries at 5 cents, but decided to completely abolish that and absorb the $309 million price tag in lost revenue.

The reassessment idea, termed "point-of-sale evaluation," was one of a handful of property appraisal options in the Senate's initial proposal. But they decided against letting each county choose its own method. The Senate even went one step further than the House committee by imposing a taxing limitation on local governments that will keep them from increasing the school operating tax on businesses and other property.

The changes brought the Senate's plan more in line with Harrell's proposal in the House, which pleased grassroots taxpayer groups pushing for reforms.

The House proposal "sounds pretty good so far," said Don Bowen, a member chairman of the Anderson County Accountability Association.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, a Charleston Republican and committee co-chairman, said the closer the two plans, the better chances of property tax relief.

Contact John Frank at (803) 799-9051 or jbfrank@postandcourier.com.