COLUMBIA -- Lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a $700 million property tax swap that will remove school operating taxes from homeowners' bills, reduce the sales tax on groceries and offer a two-day sales tax holiday after Thanksgiving.

The plan also will guarantee that each county in the state will get at least $2.5 million in property tax funding for schools and will have the option to raise sales taxes a penny more per dollar if local governments want to reduce more taxes. The overall plan increases the sales tax statewide by a penny to six cents per dollar.

Legislators also approved legislation designed to prevent huge spikes in property values due to reassessment. The legislation would go into effect next year if approved by voters in November.

"The first goal was to protect homeowners, and I think we achieved that," said Sen. David Thomas, a Greenville County Republican and longtime supporter of property tax relief. "Is it enough rollback for citizens? I don't know."

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To help protect Greenville County's property owners, Thomas amended a bill Wednesday evening that would delay the impact of reassessment in the county until next year unless the County Council votes otherwise.

Thomas earlier this year sponsored legislation that would delay the impact of reassessment until 2007. But that bill, which passed the Legislature, has been challenged in court, and Thomas fears the state Supreme Court may overturn it because it is local legislation.

The amended bill is statewide legislation, though the amendment is crafted to deal only with Greenville County, he said.

Though the tax plans passed both bodies by large margins, they drew criticism in both.

Sen. Clementa Pinckney, a Jasper County Democrat, said he sees little in either plan for the working person.

"This tax plan is going to help those with homes valued at $100,000-plus," he said. "I don't see much relief for regular Joe Six-Pack."

Rep. B.R. Skelton, a Pickens County Republican, agreed, arguing that lawmakers should be ashamed of the legislation for shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to those not so fortunate.

"I think we have not examined the long-term consequences of this sufficiently," he told House members. "We may come back later to realize we have made some mistakes."

The reassessment plan failed two attempts in the Senate before gaining the necessary two-thirds votes Wednesday afternoon.

"This is a gimmick that is a tax increase on a large number of people in this state," said Sen. Phil Leventis, a Sumter Democrat. "You have to ask yourself, 'Are you a shifter or a shiftee?' "

The reassessment plan would cap increases to 15 percent over five years, unless the property is sold or transferred or the owner takes out a building permit.

The larger tax-relief plan would eliminate all school operating taxes on owner-occupied homes. Because those with homes valued at up to $100,000 are already covered by a 1995 tax relief plan for school taxes, the additional relief would mostly help those with pricier homes.

The increased sales tax will generate more than $580 million to eliminate school operating taxes, which account for about 60 percent of most homeowners' bills.

Future school operating revenue can be increased only by a combination of student growth and inflation, under the agreement. Once law, the legislation would require a two-thirds vote to change, a concession to the House, which wanted a constitutional amendment to make the tax elimination permanent.

Lawmakers will use about $180 million of new budget surplus money to pay for the reduction in the sales tax on groceries from 5 cents per dollar to 3 cents per dollar, beginning in October.

The surplus money also will pay for some reduction of county operating taxes as well as for the sales tax holiday, which will occur statewide for the two days following Thanksgiving.

The compromise also eliminates school districts' use of alternative financing, which lawmakers said has been used by some to get around the state's constitutional debt limit.

"We think this is certainly a step forward in providing tax relief for South Carolinians," said Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford. "And we're also pleased that the General Assembly has gone farther and offered a true tax cut in the form of a grocery sales tax rather than just a tax swap."

The sales tax increase doesn't apply to groceries or accommodations.

Thomas said he is "guarded" in his excitement about the plans. It may take time to see if the reforms produce the kind of relief supporters hope for, he said.

"Each family is going to have to look and see if they're going to have to pay more on the sales tax than the amount of tax relief they get on property," he said. "But it definitely protects against future outlandish and ridiculous effects we've seen from reassessment."

Rep. Bill Cotty, a Columbia Republican who led House negotiators on the legislation, said the most significant part of the plan may be the commitment by lawmakers to re-examine school funding formulas next year.