Multiple Lot Discount Tax Abatement Deadline is May 1

by | Apr 30, 2015 | Uncategorized

If you are a Home Builder or Developer owning 10 or more vacant lots, you may be eligible for a discount on the property taxes on those lots, but you must act by May 1.  To apply, visit the Tax Assessor’s office in each county where where you own at least 10 vacant lots.

HBASC announces 2012 Housing Advocacy Agenda

by | Nov 17, 2011 | Uncategorized

Your Home Builders Association of South Carolina announced the Housing Advocacy Agenda for 2012 following its annual Legislative Conference in Columbia on November 9.

  1. Multi-lot Discount: Allow for a grace period for annual re-certification to reduce risk of losing property tax discount, and increase from 5 to 8 the years the discount is available due to the economic downturn. Bill up in Senate. 
  2. Reverse Anti-Economic Development Case: SC Supreme Court decision said any discharge into the environment must be permitted, and anyone can have standing in the case. Ominous decision for land development & construction – permit nightmare! Bill to be introduced. 
  3. IECC 2009 Adoption: The PURC Advisory Committee is scheduled to move forward with recommendations to the General Assembly to adopt the IEEC 2009 energy code. Bill to be introduced. 
  4. Immigration Reform: There is new political pressure in our state due to concerns over the Hispanic growing population in the US. We would anticipate that immigration reform legislation may have to be introduced if the Court rules against the recently passed state law – similar to the Arizona law. Bill challenged in court! 
  5. Impact Fees: HBA has to defend the state impact fee law every year every year, as some areas of the state continue to push for school impact fees, and more liberal interpretation of our state’s impact fee law. Recent court action helped! 
  6. Comprehensive Tax Reform: General Assembly will possibly pursue a comprehensive review of taxes in 2012 based on some of the TRAC Committee recommendations with additions, deletions, and changes to the SC tax code. Tax reform bill likely be introduced. 
  7. Private Transfer Fees: A bill was passed last session to ban the use of private transfer fees in SC. Bill will be up for passage in Senate in 2012. 
  8. Labor Unions Expand Their Influence: Business interests are concerned that labor unions will attempt to undermine our right-to-work state by state and federal legislation.

Watch for Calls to Action from your Home Builders Association in support of these housing-related public policy issues.

Multi-lot Discount May 1 Deadline Approaching

by | Apr 8, 2011 | Uncategorized

Residential developers and Home Builders who own 10 or more undeveloped lots, who have not signed up for the multi-lot discount, or who have not re-certified their lots for the new year, need to act quickly to be eligible for property tax abatement in the 2011 tax year. Failure to apply or re-apply by May 1 will preclude your participation in the 2011 tax year and result in a significant increase in your property tax bill for the year. To apply or re-apply, contact the Greenville County Tax Assessor’s Office.

HBA Legislative Agenda to focus on taxes and fees paid by Home Builders

by | Jan 12, 2011 | Uncategorized

The HBA of South Carolina announced its legislative agenda for 2011. Click here to read the entire agenda.

Central to the agenda are four issues where your Home Builders Association has set out to directly save home builders money.

Multi-Lot Discount
The Multi-Lot Discount benefits builders and developers who hold at least 10 finished lots that have not yet been improved with a house. The program discounts the value of the lots to its pre-development value until a house is constructed on the lot.

When this program was implemented in the late 90s, the result of the legislative efforts of your Home Builders Association, the maximum time a lot could benefit from the discount was five years. At that time no one could imagine a housing downturn like we have recently experienced.

As a result, the HBA of South Carolina will lobby to extend to seven years the amount of time a builder or developer can qualify for the discount.

Impact Fees
Continue to defend this crucial statute, which your Home Builders Association lobbied for passage in the late 90s. This law insures that impact fees are proportionate to the impact that development has on government infrastructure and also insures that impact fees are not collected for a purpose for which development does not have an impact.

Each year government work to chip away at this important law. Efforts are underway in several jurisdictions, primarily along the coast, to water down this law. Your Home Builders Association will take steps to protect the law and strengthen where appropriate.

Multiple Business Licenses
Your Home Builders Association of Greenville, along with other HBAs around the state, have called on the HBA of South Carolina to address a trend in local government of taxing businesses multiple times on the same volume of business. The HBA of South Carolina will work to pass a simple, more predictable method of assessing and collecting business license fees in South Carolina.

Local Government Regulatory Reform
Local governments have increasingly raised fees and permit charges on the construction industry to increase funding generated. The increases can be found in tap fees, sewer connection charges, and road maintenance and expansion fees. Your Home Builders Association will work to curb this growth in fees and apply the same principals to government regulatory fees that were applied to development impact fees.

You can click here to read the entire Home Builders Legislative Agenda.

Bird Supper
A key way that you can participate in this legislative program is to attend the Bird Supper. This event is where Home Builders from around the state come together to talk to their legislators about this legislative agenda.

When: Wednesday, March 23
Where: Columbia, SC