The Jan. 1 change was signed by Gov. Jim Hodges in November and takes effect as a temporary proviso that needs to be reauthorized annually. Statehouse Republicans tried to make the change permanent and want to eliminate the 5-cent tax altogether, but in steps. Counties with the local option sales tax, like Charleston County, will see the reduction, dipping from 6 cents to 5 cents per dollar. Making the reductions permanent could lead to a food fight in the Statehouse. But some ranking Democrats say that any further loss of millions of dollars is too much to bear given the fact Hodges' education agenda is still on the table.
Land is against going a penny deeper.
The GOP tax break also has not received nearly as much publicity as the before-school sales tax holiday that Hodges, a Democrat, wanted. Hodges signed that bill on June 30 and store notices went out on July 10, as the law required. That gave merchants about 24 days from the first bulletin to prepare. Hodges delayed signing the food sales tax cut until Nov. 21 so he could wait for budget forecasts. The Dec. 14 bulletin gave retailers 17 days to prepare.