AIKEN - Some call it tax reform. Others refer to the state Legislature's efforts to reduce or eliminate property taxes as a tax shift.
Otis Rawl, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce vice president of public policy, likens the issue to the arcade game Whack-A-Mole.
"When you hit one thing, two more pop up," he said.
Mr. Rawl was one of four panelists who spoke to about 50 people at a property tax forum at the Aiken Municipal Building on Thursday.
He outlined the two versions of a tax reform bill that the state legislators passed recently.
The state Senate bill would give voters the opportunity to decide whether they want to continue with property reassessments every five years or change to a point-of-sale system that would prevent property values from increasing by more than 15 percent in five years.
The state House of Representatives measure would increase sales taxes by 2 percent and include a point-of-sale provision in which property values would not increase until the property is sold. The House bill also takes owner-occupied properties off the tax rolls.
"That scares the business community to death," Mr. Rawl said. "Businesses are the only taxpayers that are left to be paying property taxes."
Not necessarily, said Lewis Gossett, the president of the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance.
"Industry will not be the ones who shoulder that burden," he said. "They'll go somewhere else."
Fred Humes, the executive director of the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties, agreed.
"Companies anymore are looking at the options that they have, and those options include overseas," he said.
Mr. Rawl said the Palmetto State already is having trouble recruiting businesses.
"We've lost about 80,000 manufacturing jobs in South Carolina," he said. "Those tend to be the highest-paying jobs in the state."
Without these jobs, he said, South Carolinians will be left with lower-paying jobs in the retail and service industries.
Aiken Mayor Fred Cavanaugh said property taxes are a municipality's most reliable source of income.
"I'd hate to see a situation where we don't get the money we really need to support all the services we have," he said.
Reach Betsy Gilliland at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.