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Indicates New Matter
AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
June 1, 2000
H. 3750
Introduced by Reps. Walker, Allison, Altman, Bailey, Barfield, Barrett, Battle, Beck, H. Brown, Campsen, Carnell, Cato, Chellis, Cooper, Cotty, Dantzler, Davenport, Easterday, Edge, Fleming, Gilham, Hamilton, Harrell, Harris, Harrison, Harvin, Haskins, Hawkins, Hinson, Jennings, Keegan, Kelley, Kennedy, Kirsh, Klauber, Knotts, Koon, Lanford, Law, Leach, Limehouse, Littlejohn, Loftis, Martin, Mason, McCraw, McGee, M. McLeod, Meacham-Richardson, Miller, Neilson, Phillips, Quinn, Rhoad, Rice, Riser, Robinson, Rodgers, Sandifer, Scott, Seithel, Sharpe, Simrill, D. Smith, R. Smith, Stille, Stuart, Taylor, Townsend, Tripp, Trotter, Vaughn, Webb, Whatley, Wilder, Wilkins, Witherspoon, Woodrum, Young-Brickell and Lucas
S. Printed 6/01/00--S.
Read the first time April 13, 2000.
TO AMEND SECTION 12-43-224, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE MULTIPLE LOT DISCOUNT ALLOWED FOR PURPOSES OF PROPERTY TAX VALUATION WHEN UNDEVELOPED ACREAGE IS SURVEYED INTO INDIVIDUAL RESIDENTIAL LOTS, SO AS TO DELETE THE DISCOUNT PROVISION AND PROVIDE THAT THE VALUE OF THESE LOTS AND ANY IMPROVEMENTS IS DEEMED TO BE ITS UNDEVELOPED VALUE UNTIL THE SOONER OF THE DATE THE LOT IS SOLD OR THE RESIDENCE CONSTRUCTED THEREON IS CERTIFIED FOR OCCUPANCY.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 12-43-224 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 12-43-224. Notwithstanding the requirement that real property is required by law to be appraised at fair market value for ad valorem tax purposes, when undeveloped acreage is surveyed into subdivision lots and the conditional or final plat is recorded with the appropriate county official, the county assessor shall appraise each lot as an individual property and then discount his gross actual market value estimate of the developer's lot holdings under the following conditions:
1. The discount rate shall include only:
(a) typical interest rate as charged by developers within the county to purchasers of lots when the purchase is financed by the developer or, in the absence of financing by the developer, the typical interest rate charged by local savings & loan institutions for mortgages on new homes.
(b) the effective tax rate for the tax district that the lots are located in.
2. The developer has ten or more unsold lots within the homogeneous area on the December 31 tax control date.
3. The assessor shall determine a reasonable number of years for the developer to sell the platted lots, however the estimate shall not exceed seven years.
Each of these components shall be based on identifiable factors in determining "The Present Worth of Future Benefits" based on the discounting process.
Platted lots shall not come within the provisions of this section unless the owners of such real property or their agents make written application therefore on or before May 1st of the tax year in which the multiple lot ownership discounted value is claimed.
The application for the discounted value shall be made to the assessor of the county in which the real property is located, upon forms provided by the county and approved by the commission and a failure to so apply shall constitute a waiver of the discounted value for that year market value for property tax purposes of the lots and residences constructed thereon shall continue to be their value as undeveloped acreage until midnight December thirty-first of the tax year in which the lot is sold or the residence is certified for occupancy, whichever occurs first."
SECTION 2. A. Article 3, Chapter 43, Title 12 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 12-43-225. (A) For subdivision lots in a conditional or final plat filed after 2000, and notwithstanding the provisions of Section 12-43-224, a subdivision lot discount is allowed in the valuation of the platted lots only as provided in subsection (B) of this section, and this discounted value applies for five property tax years or until the lot is sold, or a certificate of occupancy is issued for the improvement on the lot, or the improvement is occupied, whichever of them elapses or occurs first. When the discount allowed by this section no longer applies, the lots must be individually valued as provided by law.
(B) To be eligible for a subdivision lot discount, the final or conditional plat filed must contain at least ten building lots. The owner must apply for the discount by means of a written application to the assessor on or before May first of the year for which the discount is claimed. The value of each platted building lot is calculated: (1) by dividing the total number of platted building lots into the value of the entire parcel as undeveloped real property; and (2) as provided in Section 12-43-224 and the difference between the two calculations determined. The value of a lot as determined under Section 12-43-224 is reduced as follows:
For lots in plats filed in 2001, the value is reduced by thirty percent of the difference. For lots in plats filed in 2002, the value is reduced by sixty percent. For lots in plats filed after 2002, the value is reduced by one hundred percent of the difference.
(C) If a lot allowed the discount provided by this section is sold to the holder of a residential homebuilder's license or general contractor's license, the discount continues through the first tax year which ends twelve months from the date of sale if the purchaser files a written application for the discount with the county assessor by March first of the year for which the applicant is claiming the discount."
B. The provisions of Section 12-43-225 of the 1976 Code added by subsection A of this section are not severable, and if court of competent jurisdiction determines any part of the section to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the entire section is therefore invalid and the provisions of Section 12-43-224 of the 1976 Code shall remain operative to provide multiple lot discounts.
SECTION 3. The Department of Revenue may amend the 2000 Index of Taxpaying Ability, as defined in Section 59-2-20(3), up to July 1, 2000, for the purposes of calculating the 2000 Index of Taxpaying Ability.
SECTION 4. Upon approval by the Governor, this act is effective for property tax years beginning after 1999.
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