There are at least a few members of the state Senate willing to face reality when it comes to property tax relief. They are ready to concede there is virtually no chance for a statewide sales tax to replace the local property taxes now levied for schools. That's why Sen. Chip Campsen of Charleston is spearheading a constitutional amendment that would allow counties to impose a local sales tax that would supplant the school tax for homeowners. His plan, which also involves a use tax on residential property transfers to pay off school bonds, merits serious debate.

A strong property tax relief proponent, Sen. Campsen now acknowledges what some have predicted from the outset. The insurmountable hurdle to a statewide sales tax to substitute for the homeowner's school property tax is the crafting of an acceptable formula for sending the sales tax money back to the schools. Sen. Campsen sees no chance of coming to terms with that problem in the Senate. "It's a train wreck," he told us.

To make his point on the lack of agreement, the senator noted that a Senate committee simply struck the language of a House property tax relief bill but couldn't agree on its own version. As a result, he said, the skeleton bill up for debate only has a title and no substance. As he pondered the problem he recalled a conversation with Charleston City Councilman Henry Fishburne who actually suggested the local option approach.

The beauty of that idea, according to the senator, is that those counties that don't have the kind of property tax problem created by accelerating market values, as in the coastal counties, don't have to impose the tax.

The senator also has been particularly troubled by the tax burden imposed by the cost of new school construction needed to meet the extraordinary growth in some of the counties. He cites studies that show that new residential growth isn't paying for the needed new infrastructure. Instead, he said, the longtime property owners are actually subsidizing the growth. While the fee would involve all residential property transfers, the Campsen approach would give settled residents who buy a new home a credit on the property taxes paid for the preceding 10 years. The transfer fee to pay for school bonds also would apply to those who develop farm and timberland.

As for the size of a local option sales tax for homeowner tax relief, Sen. Campsen said estimates in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties show it would be far less than the proposed 2 cent statewide tax. In Charleston, for example, it would be about three-fourths of a penny. While it would take more than a 2-cent sales tax in some of the smaller counties, the senator pointed out that those counties don't have a huge residential property tax problem and probably wouldn't want to consider the new sales tax. A referendum on the tax could be ordered by a county council or a petition by the voters.

At a subcommittee hearing last week, the senator got some expected opposition from home builders and realtors. But he said he also received support from some members of those same groups. "They realize that current residents are paying for the infrastructure for all this grow and that some homeowners are hanging on by their fingernails," he said.

Since the state constitution says education is a state responsibility, we have long argued that the state should totally shoulder that funding responsibility. In reality, it is a shared local-state responsibility with the largest portion of the local property tax bill going to the schools. But there are too many conflicting agendas to make a statewide funding plan a remote possibility either now or in the foreseeable future.

The Campsen plan does have the merit of providing residential property tax relief without abolishing the fair market value method of property tax assessment. Assessing property for tax purposes on the basis of its market value as outlined in the state constitution dates back to the founding fathers and should be left intact.

The senator acknowledges the complexity of the issue and says he wants the benefit of more hearings and debate. He's taking the right approach. Give him your feedback.