Georgetown County voters approved a countywide 1% local option sales tax this week, a measure designed to funnel money toward property tax relief and local government operations. The referendum passed by more than 3,000 votes, according to the race's unofficial results reported on Tuesday.
That margin marks a dramatic turnaround from two years ago, when a nearly identical proposal failed by just 54 votes, as reported by Coastal Observer. This time, unofficial results showed the tax passing with nearly 56% support, according to The Post and Courier. The newspaper also notes this was the third time the tax has appeared on a Georgetown County ballot.
County leaders say the tax is conservatively expected to generate about $12 million annually, according to WCIV, which first reported the vote count. Seventy-one percent of that revenue must go into a Property Tax Credit Fund dedicated to reducing eligible property tax bills, per the station's reporting, with the remaining share distributed among the county and its municipalities for local operations and services.
Who Pays, Who Is Exempt
Groceries, qualifying prescription medications and fuel will not be subject to the new penny tax, the station reports. Restaurant meals, hotel stays and other items already subject to South Carolina's state sales tax will carry the additional 1%, the same reporting states.
The Post and Courier adds that items already exempt from the state's 6% sales tax will also be exempt from the county's new tax, and notes that property owners, rather than renters, stand to see the primary benefit from the relief, since the credits flow through property tax bills.
When the Tax Actually Begins
Exactly when shoppers will start paying the extra penny remains unsettled in the reporting. WCIV's sourcing points to Georgetown County sales tax collections starting May 1, 2027, a date also cited directly by WBTW, which reports the tax will take effect that day. The Post and Courier, however, reports that the county's overall sales tax rate will rise to 8% starting July 1, 2027. The dossier does not reconcile these two dates, and Hoodline is not resolving the discrepancy here.
Tourists Expected to Shoulder Part of the Bill
County officials have estimated that out-of-county visitors and tourists will cover 40% of the expected $12 million in annual revenue, according to the Post and Courier's reporting. A spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Revenue, however, told the paper that the non-resident share of sales tax payments cannot actually be determined from the data the state collects.
The idea that tourists help carry the load has some grounding in the county's broader sales patterns. Coastal Observer reports that Georgetown County's sales tax collections peak in June and July, with peak-month totals running 44% higher than the slowest months — a seasonal swing tied to the coastal county's visitor traffic. A 2022 analysis cited by the outlet found that visitors spent $570.5 million in the county that year, amounting to 27.4% of gross sales, and Coastal Observer separately reports that accommodations made up 15.3% of the county's taxable sales in 2023, while prepared food and drinks accounted for 21.6%.
A Second Tax Already in Motion
This penny tax arrives alongside a separate capital-projects sales tax that Georgetown County voters approved in 2024 by 754 votes, according to Coastal Observer. That measure is funding 22 infrastructure projects totaling $74 million over eight years, and it raised $18.6 million in its first year alone — nearly twice what officials had originally estimated, per the outlet's reporting.
Under state rules governing the Property Tax Credit Fund, the South Carolina Department of Revenue requires that money deposited there be used specifically to reduce property taxes, with 71% of total local option tax revenues credited to the fund statewide. Georgetown County's own referendum materials specified that groceries, prescriptions and other state-exempt items would carry over that exemption under the new 1% tax if voters approved it — which, after one failed attempt and one successful one, they ultimately did.
