South Carolina § 5-7-30 - Powers conferred upon municipalities; surtax for parking spaces.

§ 5-7-30. Powers conferred upon municipalities; surtax for parking spaces.

Each municipality of the State, in addition to the powers conferred to its specific form of government, may enact regulations, resolutions, and ordinances, not inconsistent with the Constitution and general law of this State, including the exercise of powers in relation to roads, streets, markets, law enforcement, health, and order in the municipality or respecting any subject which appears to it necessary and proper for the security, general welfare, and convenience of the municipality or for preserving health, peace, order, and good government in it, including the authority to levy and collect taxes on real and personal property and as otherwise authorized in this section, make assessments, and establish uniform service charges relating to them; the authority to abate nuisances; the authority to provide police protection in contiguous municipalities and in unincorporated areas located not more than three miles from the municipal limits upon the request and agreement of the governing body of such contiguous municipality or the county, including agreement as to the boundaries of such police jurisdictional areas, in which case the municipal law enforcement officers shall have the full jurisdiction, authority, rights, privileges, and immunities, including coverage under the workers' compensation law, which they have in the municipality, including the authority to make arrests, and to execute criminal process within the extended jurisdictional area; provided, however, that this shall not extend the effect of the laws of the municipality beyond its corporate boundaries; grant franchises for the use of public streets and make charges for them; grant franchises and make charges for the use of public beaches; engage in the recreation function; levy a business license tax on gross income, but a wholesaler delivering goods to retailers in a municipality is not subject to the business license tax unless he maintains within the corporate limits of the municipality a warehouse or mercantile establishment for the distribution of wholesale goods; and a business engaged in making loans secured by real estate is not subject to the business license tax unless it has premises located within the corporate limits of the municipality and no entity which is exempt from the license tax under another law nor a subsidiary or affiliate of an exempt entity is subject to the business license tax; and a business engaged in operating a professional sports team as defined in Section 12-6-3360(M)(17) is not subject to the business license tax; borrow in anticipation of taxes; and pledge revenues to be collected and the full faith and credit of the municipality against its note and conduct advisory referenda. The municipal governing body may fix fines and penalties for the violation of municipal ordinances and regulations not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or both. If the person or business taxed pays a business license tax to a county or to another municipality where the income is earned, the gross income for the purpose of computing the tax must be reduced by the amount of gross income taxed in the other county or municipality.

For the purpose of providing and maintaining parking for the benefit of a downtown commercial area, a municipality may levy a surtax upon the business license of a person doing business in a designated area in an amount not to exceed fifty percent of the current yearly business license tax upon terms and conditions fixed by ordinance of the municipal council. The area must be designated by council only after a petition is submitted by not less than two-thirds of the persons paying a business license tax in the area and who paid not less than one-half of the total business license tax collected for the preceding calendar year requesting the designation of the area. The business within the designated area which is providing twenty-five or more parking spaces for customer use is required to pay not more than twenty-five percent of a surtax levied pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph.

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 47-32; 1975 (59) 692; 1976 Act No. 729; 1978 Act No. 409, SECTION 1; 1988 Act No. 495, SECTION 2; 1993 Act No. 171, SECTION 1; 1999 Act No. 113, SECTION 21; 2008 Act No. 412, SECTION 2, eff June 25, 2008; 2019 Act No. 83 (H.4243), SECTION 3, eff May 22, 2019.

Editor's Note

2019 Act No. 83, SECTION 9.B, provides as follows:

"B. The provisions of Sections 4-9-30 and 5-7-30 relating to a professional sports team, and the provisions of Section 5-3-20 only apply so long as the job and payroll provisions of Section 12-6-3360(M)(17) and (P) continue to be met by the professional sports team."

Effect of Amendment

The 2008 amendment, in the first undesignated paragraph, added the third sentence relating to reduction of the amount of gross income taxed.

2019 Act No. 83, SECTION 3, in the first undesignated paragraph, in the first sentence, inserted "and a business engaged in operating a professional sports team as defined in Section 12-6-3360(M)(17) is not subject to the business license tax;".