Will the Next Governor Cut the Tax on Your Myrtle Beach Rental?
What Act 388 changes would mean

The short answer

No, not on his own. Lowering the 6% rate on second homes and rentals takes two-thirds of each house of the legislature, and no bill we found would lower it.

Alan Wilson, who won the governor's race, plans to look at reforming Act 388. Republicans won 79 of the 124 state House seats in the unofficial count, four short of two-thirds.

For a home you live in, nothing pending raises the 4% rate. The one bill on that rate signed this year keeps it for heirs for a time.

Buying on the Grand Strand? We work out the tax bill on the home first.

What is Act 388 in South Carolina?

Act 388 is the 2006 state law that took school operating taxes off homes their owners live in. Everyone else still pays them, including second homes, rentals and businesses.

In Horry County the school operating tax is the largest single part of a second home's bill.

What has changed since?

Why does a second home or rental in Myrtle Beach pay more property tax?

A home you do not live in pays more for two reasons. The state constitution taxes it on 6% of its value instead of 4%, and it still pays the school operating tax.

• The 4% rate is for the home you live in and up to five acres around it. You apply to the county for it. Without the application, the home is taxed at 6%.
• The 6% rate is for all other real property: a second home, a rental, a lot, or a shop.

Photo: BullDawg2021

On the same house inside Myrtle Beach, the rate and the school tax together make the second-home bill more than twice the homeowner's. Our page for rental investors works each bill at 6% and 4%.

The example house pays about 0.6% of its value a year as a home you live in, and about 1.5% as a second home. A statewide study by the Lincoln Institute found about the same: half a percent for homeowners, a little over one and a half for apartments.

Our Horry County property tax guide shows how the bill is figured and when it is due.

How does the 15% cap work, and when does it reset?

The 15% cap limits how much a reassessment can raise your taxable value while you own the home. A sale or an addition ends the limit for that property.

From late 2019 to late 2024, home prices in the Myrtle Beach metro rose 69% on the federal housing agency's index. An owner who did not sell or add on saw a taxable value rise of 15% at most.

The buyer starts at market value. The 2011 law reduces that for a second home or rental. A quarter of the value at the sale is exempt. It still cannot go below what the seller paid tax on.

One house, four owners

Take a house on the roll at $200,000 at one reassessment. At the next, the cap lets it rise to $230,000 at most. It sells for $350,000. The chart gives the 2026 bill for each kind of owner.

The new second-home buyer pays about 3 times what the long-time owner who lives there pays, on the same house. The buyer who moves in pays more than the long-time owner too, but at the lower rate.

What did Alan Wilson and Jermaine Johnson say about Act 388?

Alan Wilson plans to look at reforming Act 388 so rentals are not taxed at a higher rate. Jermaine Johnson's platform, as WMBF summed it up, called for lower property taxes. Neither named a rate, a bill or a cost.

What Wilson said

In a WIS interview, Wilson said he is "looking at Act 388 and reforming how we assess property taxes on those types of properties," meaning rentals. Owner-occupied homes "are taxed at a much lower rate," he said. "Second, third, and fourth homes, which are usually rental properties, are taxed at a higher rate," he added.

What his agenda lists

His agenda lists "Reforming Act 388 to remove higher property taxes for rental properties," as Fox Carolina reported it. The agenda also lists automatic sign-up for the senior exemption, a larger exemption for disabled veterans, and lower personal property taxes for businesses.

What Johnson's platform lists

WMBF's summary also lists income tax relief for lower-income families and more affordable housing. Johnson conceded on election night.

The U.S. Senate race, won by Annie Andrews, does not change this tax. The rates are in the state constitution. Our guide to what the 2026 election means for Myrtle Beach buyers and sellers shows which office can change what.

Which Act 388 bills are in the South Carolina legislature now?

One became law and the rest are in committee. We read each bill's page at the Statehouse, and none of them lowers the 6% rate.

Two Horry County representatives, Kevin Hardee and William Bailey, were among the sponsors of Act 140. No one voted against it in either house.

What would it take to lower the 6% rate on second homes and rentals?

Two-thirds of the members of each house must vote for it. The governor can propose a change, but the vote is the legislature's.

The Senate was not on the ballot this year, except one special race. In the House, Republicans would need at least four Democratic votes. Two close House races go to a recount by law. Whichever way they go, Republicans would have 78 to 80 seats.

The House districts on Horry County ballots elected eight Republicans and three Democrats. Cutting the school tax break for the home you live in also takes a two-thirds roll-call vote in each house.

The longer route: S. 815

S. 815 would change the constitution itself. That takes two-thirds of each house and then a majority of voters at the next general election, in November 2028. The next legislature must then ratify it.

When is Horry County's next reassessment?

Tax year 2029 is our estimate, or 2030 if the county postpones. State law requires a reassessment every fifth year, and a county may put one off by a year.

The county reassessed for tax year 2019 and scheduled the next for 2024. We checked the county's assessor guide: it gives no date for the one after.

• If you have not sold or added on, the 15% cap limits your rise in taxable value at that reassessment.
• If you bought after the last one, your value already started at the price you paid.
• If voters approved the amendment in 2028, the next legislature would ratify it about when the reassessment is due. Any new rates would still need a law.

Who would pay more or less under each change?

A lower rate for rentals would cut their bills by about a third or more, and no plan names who would make up the money. The bills already passed or pending help homeowners and heirs.

Who would make up the money?

In 2006 the state named a new source, the extra sales tax, for the money homeowners stopped paying. No plan to lower the rental rate names one.

If none were named, the same dollars would have to come from the rest of the tax roll. For a tax every kind of property pays, such as the county's own tax, each kind pays its share of taxable value.

Of the real property the county assessor values, homes their owners live in were taxed on 30.8% in 2018. With every 6% home moved to 4% and the same dollars raised, that would rise to about 37%.

• Every 6% home moves. The calculation moves the whole higher-rate class to the lower rate, second homes included. If only rentals moved, the shift would be smaller.
• The rest is held fixed. The rest of the roll, under one percent, is held as it was.
• What is not counted. Property the state values, such as factories and utilities, and vehicles are not in these figures.

The figures are a calculation, not a forecast. The school operating tax works differently: homes their owners live in do not pay it, so that part would fall on second homes, rentals and businesses.

What does the evidence say about Act 388, for and against?

The main study says the state's system moved the tax off homes their owners live in and onto other property. Lawmakers have kept widening the homeowner side, with no votes against.

The case that it shifted the tax

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy wrote the study in 2020. The South Carolina Chamber Foundation and South Carolina Realtors picked the ten counties it studied, Horry among them. Its subtitle calls the system "Complex, Inequitable and Uncompetitive."

It found the burden has shifted "from owner-occupied residential properties to non-owner-occupied residential properties." It names commercial, manufacturing and utility property too. In Horry County the figures look like this:

A 2025 student note in a University of South Carolina law journal adds two claims. It says the rental rate has led to "rising rent costs" in South Carolina. It says the rate "can also prevent the development of affordable housing" as well. The note cites other sources and is not a measured study.

The case for keeping it

A group at nohometax.org publishes a page titled "We Support Act 388." The legislature's own votes point the same way.

• Act 140 passed the House twice and the Senate with no votes against.
• S. 768, the larger senior exemption, passed the Senate with no votes against.
• The school tax break for the home you live in can be cut only by a two-thirds roll-call vote of each house.

What could happen to each kind of owner in the short run and the long run?

For homeowners, little changes in the first two years. For second homes and rentals, the range is from no change to about a third off a city bill, and only after a two-thirds vote.

Buying a second home now? Our second home guide and our cost to own a home here give the rest of the yearly cost.

Common questions

Act 388 questions

Does a Myrtle Beach home get the 4% rate automatically?

No. The owner must apply to the county for the 4% rate before the first penalty date. Without the application, the home is taxed at 6%, like a second home.

Can I get the 25% exemption on a second home I buy?

Yes, if the home is taxed as a second home or rental and changed hands after 2010. The owner must notify the assessor before Jan. 31 of the first tax year claimed. The taxable value cannot fall below the seller's value on the roll.

Does a home keep the 4% rate after the owner dies?

Yes, for a time, under Act 140. The rate stays until the estate closes, a deed out of the estate is recorded, or Dec. 31 of the year after the death, whichever comes first. It ends if the home is rented more than 72 days.

Did Annie Andrews' win change property taxes in Horry County?

No. The two rates are in the South Carolina Constitution. Only the state legislature, or the legislature and the state's voters together, can change them. A U.S. senator has no vote on them.

Will my property tax go up at the next Horry County reassessment?

If you have not sold or added on, your taxable value can rise no more than 15% at that reassessment. The tax rate can still change. We expect the next one for tax year 2029, from the state's five-year rule.

Sources: S.C. Const. Art. X, Art. XVI, S.C. Code 12-43, 12-37, 12-36-1110, 11-11-155, S. 815, Horry 2026 levy, Horry assessor, Lincoln Institute 2020, USC law note 2025, WIS, Fox Carolina, WMBF, Wilson priorities, SC Election Commission, FHFA index, Florida Const. Art. VII. Election results are unofficial until certified. The four-owner example and the shares are our arithmetic. Not legal or tax advice.

Buying or owning on the Grand Strand?

Send us the address. We work out the tax bill as a home you live in and as a second home, and what changes when it sells.