COLUMBIA, S.C. - The sprawling Coastal Grand Myrtle Beach mall, which currently has 1 million square feet of retail space, certainly can't be confused with farmland.

But it was just two years ago that the land where the $200 million mall sits fell under the state's agricultural tax exemption, said Horry County Tax Assessor Rendel Mincey.

The property, which is owned by Myrtle Beach developer Burroughs & Chapin, qualified for the tax break from at least 1987 until 2002, Mincey said.

The company paid $380.97 a year in taxes on the land when it was still classified as timberland. When it was developed, the company paid $529,982.12 in rollback taxes to the county, Mincey said. That means a savings of more than $100,000 a year for at least 10 years.

Burroughs & Chapin is developing the mall with CBL & Associates. It opened last month. When it goes on the tax rolls Jan. 1, 2005, the county will receive significantly more from taxes than a few hundred dollars, Mincey said.

Developers can use a law in South Carolina - like other states across the country - to save money on property taxes by classifying land as farmland. But unlike other states, South Carolina made changes a decade ago to tighten requirements and prevent counties from losing out on tax collections.

South Carolina has no specific law providing a tax exemption for farmland, but a law enacted in 1975 allows agricultural land to be taxed at a different assessment rate.

Under the law, agricultural land can be taxed at an adjusted rate as long as it remains in agricultural production and the taxpayer applies for the special rate each year.

Beginning in the 1980s, county officials and farm lobbyists began a push to tighten a loophole in the law. Lawmakers heard stories of prime land around Columbia's Lake Murray being classified as farms or timberland and owners saving thousands of dollars in property taxes.

Lawmakers tightened up the code in the 1990s, requiring a minimum of 10 acres for farms with crops and 5 acres for timberland, or requiring the owner to show $1,000 of gross income from the property for 3 of 5 years.

"Since that time, we haven't really heard any complaints," said Gary Spires, state legislative coordinator for the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation.

Developers still are able to use the tax break on property they own, but a landowner may be assessed for back taxes for up to five years preceding the tax year when the property was valued and assessed for nonagricultural use, according to Beth Crocker, an attorney for the state Agriculture Department.

The size of the tax break varies based on the type of agriculture production and use of the land, Crocker said.

Midlands developer Stewart Mungo said his company uses the tax break on property it owns.

"All developers probably use it to some degree," said Mungo, president of The Mungo Co. "It artificially lowers your tax rate."

But Mungo said he thinks the state's tax code should be updated to provide different categories for farmers and developers. "A piece of land purchased specifically as an investment probably should be another category," he said.

Although the state's agricultural tax break law has been strengthened, farmland continues to disappear.

South Carolina ranks fourth among the states in conversion of farmland to developed property, according to the state Agriculture Department. Farmland accounted for 23 percent of all land in the state in 1992; that was down from for 57 percent in 1954, according to department statistics.

Still, about 460,000 jobs in the state are in the field of agribusiness.

Dairy farmer Tom Trantham of Pelzer receives the break on his 95 acres of land, but says it's not enough to make or break him. Farmers are being chased out of business because of low prices on products and encroaching development, he said.

Trantham said he would like to see the state do more to help farmers, including deleting property taxes for farmers provided that at least 90 percent of their total income comes from the farm.

"We really need to take action on protecting our farms here in South Carolina," Trantham said.