Starts Tuesday: Another penny brings us to an 8.5% sales tax in Charleston

Image by Flickr user CR Artist

Update February 28: The extra 1% tax begins tomorrow, March 1, and will last six years.

If you're foggy on what or why, read below or check out this report in today's Post and Courier about how the tax will be used to fund school construction.

First reporting November 4, 2010: Come March 2011, the pennies you fork over to Charleston County will get a bit higher thanks to the penny sales tax for school construction that passed in Tuesday's voting.

With a base state tax of six cents on the dollar, in previous years Charleston has tacked on a half penny for transportation and "greenbelt" programs and another penny for property tax relief, and now another penny for schools for a grand total of 8.5%.

The Post and Courier has a rundown on what the new penny will be used for and ponders why it passed and talks about what the new tax will cost the average family.

The paper aptly points out that taxes on prepared food items, like a coffee, will now be 10.5%.

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