COLUMBIA - To hear Sen. Chip Campsen tell it, the legislative effort to provide homeowners with property tax relief has hit an iceberg.

"I think this tax plan is sinking like the Titanic," the Charleston Republican said. "We've hit the iceberg and now the passengers are in the water. . They are dead and they don't even know it yet."

In this metaphor, the passengers are coastal taxpayers struggling to pay their escalating property tax bills.

For nearly a year, state lawmakers have pledged to come to the rescue. But those hopes continued to fade last week as the Senate met for three days without action.

The problem is that few senators actually like the plan two Senate committees generated after six weeks of work. And they aren't sold on four alternatives being considered, either.

The debate resumes Tuesday, and Senate leader Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston,

called it "a defining week" for the future of tax relief.

If a resolution doesn't happen this week, the legislation gets trumped in priority by the budget. And if the $6.5 billion spending plan stalls, property tax relief this year is "very iffy," he said.

"Unfortunately, this is so complex an issue that senators keep waiting for this magical formula to come without the discomfort of a vote," McConnell said. "That isn't going to happen. To get to the finish line, we have to take some uncomfortable votes."

Factions in the debate

The Senate already has approved two constitutional amendments that cap the amount a home's value can increase during reassessment and restrict local government's ability to increase tax rates.

But providing actual tax relief is the tough part because of diverging factions.

Grass-roots taxpayer groups mobilized behind the House plan, which would use a 2-cent increase in the statewide sales tax to provide an 85 percent reduction in home taxes. It also would eliminate the tax on groceries. They aren't willing to settle for anything less.

While the Senate committees considered changing the House legislation, the taxpayer groups published negative newspaper advertisements against at least two senators in the Upstate.

But senators had reason to pause after the House plan was so vehemently opposed by the state's business community. Business groups dislike the plan because, they say, it shifts the tax burden onto their backs.

They criticized House members for rushing through a plan without considering that side of the equation. The Senate sought a more equitable solution but hasn't found a proposal that makes every camp happy.

The plan that came out of the Senate Finance Committee would halve property tax bills for homes valued at less than $150,000, as well as provide some reduction in vehicle taxes.

Proponents of this concept - and there are few of them - tried to balance the needs of coastal areas and those of rural, slower-growing counties in which property owners haven't seen much of an increase in their home tax bills.

Geography also is a dividing factor for the way money would be distributed to schools. Local property taxes pay for a large portion of school operating costs. Reducing property taxes in exchange for a higher sales tax would give the state the responsibility of returning the revenues equitably to local school districts, a politically impractical task.

Options on the table

These issues will be on senators' minds this week. At the moment, four plans are on the table. If any action is taken, expect one of these - or more likely, a hybrid - to emerge:

--The House plan: This proposal is a 2-cent sales tax increase to remove the bulk of home taxes. Senators don't like the tax-swap concept, but the measure provides the most tax relief for homeowners, the loudest critics of high tax bills.

--A modified House plan: Written in the fall by a special Senate committee, this arrangement raises the sales tax 2 cents to halve home and vehicle property taxes and give renters a small tax break. Senators rebuffed this concept when the session began in January.

--The Grooms amendment: Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, came up with a bipartisan plan that equally offends nearly every segment of the taxpaying population. It would eliminate about 60 percent of home taxes, but how it gets to that point is what makes it controversial.

Grooms is proposing increasing the sales tax, the alcohol surtax, the cigarette tax, car sales taxes and deed recording fees. He also wants to remove 10 sales tax exemptions and impose a statewide tax on every type of property but homes.

--The Campsen alternative: The Charleston senator acknowledges the geographical differences at work, so he proposed a measure that lets counties provide property tax relief by shifting education financing to the sales tax.

It would allow counties to increase the sales tax enough to reduce home taxes by removing the portion that goes to schools. In Charleston County, a sales tax increase of three-quarters of a penny would cut home tax bills in half.

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