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Letter to the Editor Published in the Charleston Mercury

Property Tax Fight Continues!

Dear Editor:

On January 10 of this year, I joined with South Carolinians from around the state on the steps of the State Capitol to ask our General Assembly to eliminate property taxes on owner-occupied homes. We brought with us not only a determination to be heard, but an excellent plan for replacing those tax dollars. Our plan, of course, ensured that property tax relief would not take dollars away from our classrooms.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the next day that the Charleston County School Board voted to take money out of the classrooms to hire a lobbyist to fight our plan. And not just any lobbyist, but the lobbyist who also represented video poker and gambling ships.

As the chairman of NoHomeTax.org, I couldn't have asked for a more appropriate symbol of government waste: Elected officials hiring a lobbyist to talk to other elected officials in an effort to collect even more tax dollars. Do these school board members not have phones? Could they not also drive to Columbia to be heard? Of course they could, but they defaulted to their natural reaction: Throwing dollars at the problem, this time via a lobbyist. Yes, I am aware they decided against the idea once their decision came under public scrutiny, but their initial reaction was typical: Fix the problem with wads of taxpayers' cash!

The statewide coalition that comprises NoHomeTax.org worked countless hours throughout the year to educate members of the General Assembly on our revenue neutral tax relief plan - one that replaced every dollar that would be lost to provide property tax relief. It wasn't easy, but through compromise we prevailed on many of our issues. And as a result of the new law that passed in June, the average South Carolina homeowner will realize a reduction of 50 percent on their 2007 property tax bill.

But the fight isn't over. What the General Assembly giveth, the General Assembly can taketh away. Knowing this adage is always a possibility, we insisted that a referendum for a Constitutional Amendment be presented to the people to protect the steps we achieved. This step was critical, because other tax caps have been overturned as unconstitutional - we realized we needed to amend the Constitution to avoid the same fate.

Again, we prevailed. Amendment #4 on November's ballot will enable voters to vote Yes to the question, Should property tax assessments be limited to a 15 percent increase every five years? The only mitigating factors concerning property value should be a) if the owner chooses to improve the parcel of property b) if the property declines in value c) if the property is sold from a willing seller to a willing buyer, which would establish the property's new value. This all makes perfect sense to you, I'm sure. But there is a problem.

Outside of the Mercury distribution, many voters in Charleston are completely unaware that this critical referendum is even on the ballot. Why? Because the Post and Courier has chosen to neglect the story. One can only assume their staff didn't like the idea of property tax relief, so they simply chose to ignore the story of how a Charleston-based organization on a shoestring budget ushered in one of the biggest grassroots victories in decades. As for the reaction of the other liberal daily newspapers around the state, well, it would be mild to say they are outraged at the idea of property tax relief. Why? I'll answer that with a question: When was the last time you remember a newspaper praising tax relief?

Perhaps the silliest rallying cry heard from the opposition is that the plan will benefit the rich. The fact is that the plan will benefit everyone in the state! Why should the lower and middle class homeowners be denied property tax relief, just because the wealthy (less than 9.5 percent of resident homeowners) will also benefit? Consider the tens of thousands of middle-class families who bought their homes here before the Lowcountry became such hot property. Consider as well the folks who inherited family land, but not a fat bank account to maintain it. For these folks, this property tax relief may well be the difference between being forced to sell their home, and keeping it.

So, is our platform one to favor the rich? Hardly. One of the things we pushed for was the reduction of the grocery tax by two cents, something a rich person simply wouldn't care about. This part of our platform has already been put into place, and will save South Carolinians about $120,000,000 a year on purchases they must make to feed their families. In the fight to rein in property taxes, the final battle will take place in the ballot box on November 7. If you believe in our cause and want to help, please visit our Web site at NoHomeTax.org. We need your assistance in getting the word out.

Emerson Read
Charleston, South Carolina