SC Realtors Launch Campaign Against Tax Law

Hit hard by the slumping national housing market and a tax code that they say penalizes new home sales, South Carolina’s realtors are launching an aggressive new media campaign aimed at raising awareness of their issues.

“Because of the unfair point of sale tax, some companies have said they will not relocate or open new businesses in South Carolina, taking their jobs to other states, and in a tough economy the last thing we need are taxes that eliminate jobs and prevent new businesses from opening,” Kremydas said. “Families across South Carolina are struggling to pay their bills and hold onto their jobs, and local governments want more. Local governments should find ways to encourage job creation – and improve efficiencies – instead of supporting a tax that punishes businesses looking to bring jobs to the state.”

The campaign centers around their objection to “Act 388,” a botched tax swap passed by the S.C. General Assembly in 2006 that briefly lowered property tax rates on primary residences in exchange for a permanent increase in the state sales tax.  Championed by S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, this tax swap legislation – which nearly everyone now acknowledges as a complete and total failure – also increased taxes on non-residential and business property.

According to SC Realtors president Nick Kremydas, this gives local governments the ability “to dramatically increase property taxes on homes, land and businesses when they are sold.”

Source

While we object to complicated tax swaps on principle (we should be passing simple tax cuts instead), realtors in South Carolina are rising up because the law assesses a “point of sale” tax that is weakening an already anemic property market.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Internet Tax Lawyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.