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COLUMBIA - Eliminating abuses in the state's agricultural assessment system
could lead to lower taxes for everyone, a Lowcountry lawmaker said.
Rep. Richard Chalk, R-Hilton Head, filed two bills at the start of session
that would tighten which land tracts qualify as agricultural and receive a
valuable property tax break.
"If they got more money off the raw land in the county, they could lower the
millage rates and it would really help the working class and lower-income
people in the rural counties in particular," he said.
The issue is a critical aspect of the ongoing property tax debate that
lawmakers have largely ignored, he said.
His bills were filed amid the House's debate on the issue but were never
taken up.
"My whole view is that we can't legitimately look at property tax reform if
we don't look at all these things," said Chalk, a member of the House's
special property tax committee.
His first piece of legislation would require property owners to show they
earn significant income from agriculture in order to get the tax break.
"I'd like to see us move to an income test and not an acreage test with all
agricultural property," he said.
The second piece of legislation is a constitutional amendment that asks
voters to create a new class of property for undeveloped agricultural tracts
greater than 25 acres.
Such tracts would be taxed at 2 percent of fair market value, which is half
the rate at which homeowners are taxed, but considerably more than a
developer might pay under the agricultural assessment program.
The South Carolina Forestry Association and some conservationists have
expressed concern about the bills.
"It would eliminate the preferential tax treatment that is so critical for
properties that are primarily managed for wildlife habitat," said Dana
Beach, director of the Coastal Conservation League.
"It would also create a hardship for families, like some on the sea islands,
that may be growing crops for subsistence and maybe not making much income."
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