Property Tax Appeal Municipal Appeal

South Carolina "Property owners should have a better picture on tax relief by the end of the week as the House of Representatives debates a proposal to add 2 percent to the state sales tax.

Property owners in Beaufort County have been calling for reforms since a 2004 reassessment showed property values more than five times what they were during the 1998 reassessment.

Under the House bills owner-occupied homes would be exempt from local property taxes for anything but debt payments, leaving the county, municipalities, school district and other public service districts to be largely funded by the increase in the state's sales tax from 5 percent to 7 percent.

If approved, the property tax exemption would be put to voters in a November ballot. The increase in the sales tax would be a procedural measure that would follow that approval. " Raising state sales tax could lower property taxes GREG HAMBRICK of The Beaufort Gazette

So what is wrong with this picture? Raising sales taxes to reduce property taxes seems to be a gutless way out of paying for an out of control spending spree. What needs to be addressed is cutting expenses.

Class warfare is caused in increasing the state sales tax. Untold suffering is fostered on those with limited fixed income retirement as well as the working poor.

The poorest households in spend more of their income on state and local taxes, while the very richest spend less of their income on state and local taxes. And that doesn't count fees,

What we see is property tax savings for the wealthy paid for through a higher state sales tax. This is a regressive tax that misses the crux of the problem.

Poor people spend more of their income on taxable goods than wealthier people. Lawmakers could exempt groceries from taxation; that would take much of the regressivity out of the sales tax.

It would be class warfare to require the poor — who already are paying more than their fair share — to pay for a tax break for the better-off by way of higher sales taxes.

Politicians serving politicians are blinding the public by giving them choices that involve tax raises. What is needed is a cost cutting, lean local and state government machine. Low taxes give everyone a chance to have more in their pocket to spend on necessary goods and services. As tax overhead decreases businesses's prosper, workers keep more of their earnings and as growth occurs more tax revenue flows in.

But, keep on chocking the goose that lays the golden eggs and you have a European type socialism stagnation on hand.

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Eliminate Owner Occupied Property From Taxation, Increase Sales Tax (NP)