STOP Tax

STOPTAX.ORG

Board of Directors

Wendy Bremer
Director
Greenville
STOPTAX.org
(864) 444-2595

Timothy Moultrie
Media Liaison
STOPTAX.org
(803) 894-6470

David Whetsell
President
STOPTAX.org
(803) 957-8694

STOP TAXING OUR PROPERTY

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COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF ALL PROPERTY TAXES ON OUR HOMES

The Legislators have not completed their task until all the taxes are eliminated from our primary homes and the fear of losing them in our twilight years. This could be done a very simple way, as the tax law is already on the books. Increase the deed stamp to pay for taxes and earmark the increase to pay them off or simply they could be taken off with the budget surplus that we have. They also need to give us the vote to keep it off with a constitutional amendment. Property taxes on our primary homes collected by the local government will only be 18 to 20 percent of the total property taxes.

House Prices Going Down

We need to get started on forcing reassessment next year, as home prices are going down.

The Lexington County Assessor's Office states on their website:

"Q. Am I supposed to be told about changes in market value determined for my property?

A. Yes. The Assessor must mail a property assessment notice to all property owners whose real property’s fair market value increases by $1,000 or more. Assessment notices must be sent to the person listed as property owner as of December 31 of the prior year.

The assessment notice includes the market value, the new assessment value, the assessment ratio, number of acres or lots, location of property, tax map number and the appeals procedure.

When a reassessment program is completed, the Assessor must mail the assessment notices by February 1 of the year the reassessment program will be implemented."

But the Assessor's Office is not telling the public the whole truth as shown below from South Carolina code of laws, Title 12 - Taxation, Section 12-37-90, sub-section C. I wonder how many of the other county assessor's offices are telling half-truths.

Title 12 - Taxation CHAPTER 37. ASSESSMENT OF PROPERTY TAXES ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 12-37-90. Assessors to be full-time; responsibilities and duties.

All counties shall have a full-time assessor, whose responsibility is appraising and listing all real property, whether exempted or not, except real property required by law to be assessed by the department and property owned by the federal government, state government, county government, or any of its political subdivisions and which is exempt from property taxation. If the assessor discovers that any real property required by law to be assessed by the department has been omitted, he shall notify the department that the property has been omitted and the department is required to appraise and assess the omitted property.

The assessor is responsible for the operations of his office and shall:

(a) maintain a continuous record of recorded deed sales transactions, building permits, tax maps, and other records necessary for a continuing reassessment program;

(b) diligently search for and discover all real property not previously returned by the owners or their agents or not listed for taxation by the county auditor, and list such property for taxation in the name of the owner or person to whom it is taxable;

(c) when values change, reappraise and reassess real property so as to reflect its proper valuation in light of changed conditions, except for exempt property and real property required by law to be appraised and assessed by the department, and furnish a list of these assessments to the county auditor;

(d) determine assessments and reassessments of real property in a manner that the ratio of assessed value to fair market value is uniform throughout the county;

(e) appear as necessary before an appellate board to give testimony and present evidence as to the justification of an appraisal;

(f) have the right of appeal from a disapproval of or modification of an appraisal made by him;

(g) perform duties relating to the office of tax assessor required by the laws of this State;

(h) be the sole person responsible for the valuation of real property, except that required by law to be appraised and assessed by the department, and the values set by the assessor may be altered only by the assessor or by legally constituted appellate boards, the department, or the courts;

(i) have the right to enter and examine all new nonresidential buildings and structures and those portions of an existing nonresidential building or structure covered by a building permit for renovations or additions.

School Boards and Superintendents Complain about Funding

Every article I read about school funding being cut because of the one cent sales tax increase for property tax relief. You stated in your article "but they also spoke about the dire situation facing school districts in terms of state funding, specifically the change in state law that swapped property taxes on owner-occupied homes with a penny increase in the sales tax". They are pointing the blame at the homeowners. If you will look on the Dept. of Education's website and find how each school district receives their funding. You will see that their funding is broken down into many different parts. About 1/3 is from the State, about 1/3 from the Federal goverment and the rest is from grants, all property taxes and other special funds. The property tax relief on primary homes is about 3% of their total budget. That is what the penny increase replaces. That and the tax off groceries.

These people need to admit that the real problem is that all the goverment agencies that fund schools is going by CPI. You know that inflation is a lot higher than what they say the CPI is. When the State Buget and Control Board cuts funding by 3%, it cuts all their fund to schools. You want to blame the old retired homeowners that they are causing this problem even though they only pay about 3%. The problem is that when everyone else has to cut back. The schools need to do what everyone else does, spend less until times get better. Why should schools put their burden on everyone else so they don't have to be frugal?

David Whetsell
President STOPTAX

Save Our Homes!

South Carolina homes are in jeopardy. If you own your own home, in another two (2) assessment cycles (five year cycles) your property taxes could easily triple.

The total home taxes increased from 2003 to 2005 from 450 million dollars to 717 million dollars.

Our goal is the permanent elimination of property taxes on personal homes and to secure that elimination through a Constitutional amendment.
Rollback, tax cuts, and other half measures are NOT an option.

We must act now. We ask you to join us to help pressure our legislature.

What You Can Do to Help!!!

Join stoptax.org today.
Please make a donation of $10, $50, $100 or more so we can contact more people to join us in the fight to save our homes. We have to let them know you support the elimination of personal property taxes on homes. We want to spread the word and build membership as a grassroots organization to pressure the legislators to pass the bill and amendments to make owning your HOME a reality. With every $10 given we will send you a STOPTAX bumper sticker. No one in STOPTAX makes any money as all of it is spent on getting the word out.

You can donate by sending a check to:
StopTax
P.O. Box 84102
Lexington, SC 29073

Then, call your neighbors, friends, family members, children, classmates, and business associates and ask them to do the same! (Keep the money for yourselves and your family. If you don't, they will add the 2% for something else anyway, and we will be paying exorbitant property taxes and the 2% sales tax at some point.)

We need your support! Email us at info@stoptax.org or contact us by phone to find out how you can help.

Spokesperson: David R. Whetsell
Phone: (803) 957-8694

Media Liaison: Timothy Moultrie
Phone: (803) 312-5167