It looms as a giant Trojan horse, created by the state Legislature that anticipates the citizens of South Carolina will cheerfully drag it into their cities and counties across the state. Yet even the creators themselves aren't sure what will spill out after we finish admiring their handiwork.

As various state Senate and House committees rush to put forward packages to replace the property tax with a sales tax, it appears from their early efforts that many critical details have been left undecided or simply overlooked. In fact, when questioned about the details of one of the proposed plans, a lawmaker admitted "they would figure out the details later."

With a history of quickly enacted but poor-performing tax relief measures, it should be a concern to all South Carolinians that it appears once again our Legislature may be putting the cart before the horse. It is fiscally irresponsible and even an affront to the citizens of this state to rush forward legislation with critical details lacking, such as a funding distribution system.

Much has been made of the fact that property tax relief occupies the top spot on the legislative agenda for the upcoming year. Poorly conceived or misguided legislation, particularly regarding changes to our tax structure, could have far-reaching implications on the state's financial stability. With an election year approaching, I am afraid some legislators view this issue as a chance to build political capital rather than try to do what is best for the state in the long run.

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I will agree that property tax reform in some regard is needed in our state, but I equally believe that property taxes are only a part of the problem and addressing tax reform in a piecemeal fashion has yet to provide substantive change. If our General Assembly is truly interested in helping the people of South Carolina through tax reform, I would urge them to consider a holistic approach to reform by bringing the governor, counties, municipalities, school districts and groups such as the Palmetto Institute to the table to create a plan that would meet the state's objectives with the endorsement of those most affected.

Part of what is so perplexing about this whole debate is how it has taken on the scope of a legislative issue. Certainly there is a school funding issue in South Carolina that has to be addressed, but property tax is and should be a local issue. Lost somewhere in the whole property tax reform debate is the fact that we are dangerously close to rescinding 30 years of Home Rule by default.

Since the mid-1970s when the General Assembly passed the Home Rule Act, local governments have provided governance based on the premise that local authorities are best qualified to handle local issues. It is a democratic process rooted in our Constitution and one which I suspect most citizens agree most adequately serves their needs. Interestingly, school districts were not included in the Home Rule legislation; thus the problem of adequate school funding is indeed a state issue.

Nevertheless, if property tax is eliminated in favor of a sales tax, the burden of collection and more importantly the method of dispersion rests entirely with the state. This would take local government out of the picture and potentially drive a stake through the heart of Home Rule. In effect we would be returning to the days when local delegations appropriated "supply bills" for county operational expenses.

Even with sophisticated pro-rata formulas for distributing funds your local elected officials would essentially become "lobbyists" constantly trying to secure adequate funding to address local concerns. And with only a handful of counties generating the vast majority of the sales tax, powerful lawmakers from those areas would be working to see that their constituents were taken care of first. Any property tax relief would soon be lost in a host of new fees for service as cities and counties scrambled to provide basic and essential services.

Yet, according to one reporter, some legislators have "openly shown a disdain for local governments' problems." While many legislators are calling for additional fiscal constraints on cities and counties, the fact of the matter is that if the state would have been willing to offer more alternative revenue source tools to those entities in the past, much of this tax argument could have been avoided.

While I would hope that a coalition of progressive-thinking legislators would step forward and push for comprehensive tax reform, it doesn't appear it will happen in the current political atmosphere. Given the early offerings of both the House and Senate regarding property tax reform, I would urge all South Carolinians to demand answers of their state-level elected officials before we are asked to drag the horse into town. I think this is one gift horse we may want to "look in the mouth."