Lawmakers tout property tax cut

LUKE CONNELL, Staff Writer

Everyone who's ever wanted to give state leaders their 2 cents because of high property taxes may soon get a chance.

A plan being discussed by House members could eliminate all property taxes on owner-occupied homes. The proposal would drop the sales tax on groceries as well.

Instead, everyone would pay an additional 2 cents of sales tax on the dollar for everything else.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, touted the proposed tax reform on Monday while addressing a Republican community group.

"We've got to create a permanent solution," Harrell told First Monday Club members. "We can't have anymore of this Band-Aid approach that we've had in the past."

Earlier this year, Harrell tasked a House ad-hoc committee to examine tax reform. Rep. Bob Walker, R-Landrum, said that committee, of which he is a member, plans to meet Wednesday to vote on several of these issues.

If that group reaches a consensus, the proposal would become a bill and be introduced to the full House when the legislative session starts in January.

A similar property tax reform proposal is working its way through a Senate committee.

Harrell said the property tax movement grew out of a series of eight meetings held throughout the state earlier this year.

"Without exception, the first thing brought up in every meeting -- Republican or Democrat -- was property taxes," he said.

Rep. Scott Talley, R-Moore, said tax relief on owner-occupied homes is an issue that likely affects more South Carolinians than any other.

Talley said he doesn't want to see people taxed out of their homes and entrepreneurs put out of business by escalating property taxes.

Rep. Phil Sinclair, R-Woodruff, said property tax reform is a chief concern among South Carolina lawmakers.

"I think that statewide it's probably the biggest issue that the state's facing right now," said Sinclair, who is not a member of the committee.

Sinclair said he has heard concerns from the business community on reform efforts. Businesses along with non-owner-occupied property and everything from boats to motorcycles would continue to be assessed property taxes.

To counter that concern, the House committee, Walker said, supports freezing the reassessment of property, which is typically done every five years on real estate.

Instead, real estate would be reassessed when it is sold, Walker said.

Luke Connell can be reached at 562-7219 or luke.connell@shj.com.