South Carolina General Assembly
116th Session, 2005-2006

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Bill 4691

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

AMENDED

April 26, 2006

H. 4691

Introduced by Reps. Chellis, Young, Cotty, Ceips, Ott, Sandifer and Whitmire

S. Printed 4/26/06--H.

Read the first time February 21, 2006.

            

STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT

REVENUE IMPACT 1/

This bill has no impact on state general fund revenue in FY2006-07.

Explanation

This bill would amend Section 6-1-530(B) and Section 6-1-730(B) to allow counties in which less than $900,000 in state accommodations taxes is collected annually to use up to fifty percent of local accommodations taxes and hospitality taxes collected during the previous fiscal year for an exclusive list of operations and maintenance purposes allowed by law. There are six counties collecting more than $900,000 in state accommodations taxes - Beaufort, Charleston, Georgetown, Greenville, Horry, and Richland. Total state accommodations taxes (2%) amounted to $36,836,246 in FY2004-05. This bill would allow the remaining forty counties to allocate and spend up to fifty percent of local accommodations tax and hospitality tax revenue for tourism-related projects pursuant to Section 6-1-530(A)(1) through (6) including, but not limited to, civic centers, coliseums, beach access and renourishment, highways, roads, streets, bridges, tourism advertisements, and water and sewer infrastructure. Funds could also be used for police, fire protection, emergency medical services, and emergency-preparedness operations directly attendant to those facilities. According to the latest data available from the Local Government Finance Report published by the Office of Economic Research, total local accommodations tax revenue amounted to $25,526,503 in FY2002-03 and total local hospitality tax revenue amounted to $74,582,108 in FY2002-03. This bill would allow counties to use an additional $50,000,000 in local revenue to fund tourism-related projects, police and fire protection, emergency medical services, and emergency-preparedness operations. This bill has no impact on state general fund revenue in FY2006-07.

Approved By:

William C. Gillespie

Board of Economic Advisors

1/ This statement meets the requirement of Section 2-7-71 for a state revenue impact by the BEA, or Section 2-7-76 for a local revenue impact or Section 6-1-85(B) for an estimate of the shift in local property tax incidence by the Office of Economic Research.

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTIONS 6-1-530 AND 6-1-730, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE USES ALLOWED FOR THE REVENUES OF THE LOCAL ACCOMMODATIONS TAX, SO AS TO ALLOW A COUNTY IN WHICH LESS THAN NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR IN STATE ACCOMMODATIONS TAX IS COLLECTED TO USE NOT MORE THAN FIFTY PERCENT OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S LOCAL ACCOMMODATIONS TAX REVENUES FOR THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE PURPOSES ALLOWED BY LAW IN COUNTIES MEETING THE NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR THRESHOLD.

Amend Title To Conform

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 6-1-530(B) of the 1976 Code, is further amended to read:

"(B)(1)        In a county in which at least nine hundred thousand dollars in accommodations taxes is collected annually pursuant to Section 12-36-920, the revenues of the local accommodations tax authorized in this article may also be used for the operation and maintenance of those items provided in (A)(1) through (6) including police, fire protection, emergency medical services, and emergency-preparedness operations directly attendant to those facilities.

(2)    In a county in which less than nine hundred thousand dollars in accommodations taxes is collected annually pursuant to Section 12-36-920, an amount not to exceed twenty percent of the revenue in the preceding fiscal year of the local accommodations tax authorized pursuant to this article may be used for the additional purposes provided in item (1) of this subsection."

SECTION    2.    Section 6-1-730(B) of the 1976 Code is further amended to read:

"(B)(1)        In a county in which at least nine hundred thousand dollars in accommodations taxes is collected annually pursuant to Section 12-36-920, the revenues of the hospitality tax authorized in this article may be used for the operation and maintenance of those items provided in (A)(1) through (6) including police, fire protection, emergency medical services, and emergency-preparedness operations directly attendant to those facilities.

(2)    In a county in which less than nine hundred thousand dollars in accommodations taxes is collected annually pursuant to Section 12-36-920, an amount not to exceed twenty percent of the revenue in the preceding fiscal year of the local hospitality tax authorized pursuant to this article may be used for the additional purposes provided in item (1) of this subsection."

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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