County ‘wants to have its cake and eat it too,’ Myrtle Beach says in latest tax bickering
Myrtle Beach wants to dismiss some of Horry County’s claims against the city in the latest round of legal fighting between the two entities.
Earlier this year, Myrtle Beach sued the county over the hospitality tax — 1.5 percent in municipal boundaries and 2.5 percent for the other areas in the county — which is now at the center of a heated dispute. The city says the county wrongfully, and without its consent, extended the deadline to collect the tax.
The hospitality fee started in 1996 and was designed to fund road projects in Horry County. The tax was to expire after 20 years but has been extended. After the county directed funds towards the construction of I-73, the city ratcheted up rhetoric over the tax and filed the lawsuit.
Horry County denied the city’s allegations and filed two counterclaims against Myrtle Beach as part of its first response.
The city, in one of several filings this week, says neither counterclaim holds legal ground and should be dismissed.
One of the county’s counterclaims was related to the city “promises,” according to court records. Horry officials contend that promise is when Myrtle Beach backed the creation of the road improvement program, and to collect and distribute the hospitality funds.
However, the city says the “promise” was a city council-approved resolution in support to create the 1996 road program that was set to expire after 20 years.
Myrtle Beach claims Horry County’s attempts to argue the implementation costs now is equivalent to double-dipping. The county wants to keep its proceeds since 1996 and to recoup the implementation costs, city officials argue.
“The county also wants to have its cake and eat it too,” the filing reads.
New city tax in dispute
Separately from the initial filing and this week’s answer, the county previously filed an injunction request asking a judge to bar the city from collecting its own hospitality tax.
In March, Myrtle Beach approved a hospitality tax for residents and visitors inside the municipality. Horry County said the new tax will create confusion and could lead to people paying more than state code allows.
“If the City is allowed to start collecting its brand new taxes on July 1, the City will have deliberately created a situation in which taxpayers are paying more than the maximum amount that can be charged by local governments for local accommodations and hospitality taxes,” Horry County argued in court filings.
City officials have yet to answer those allegations.
This story was originally published May 21, 2019 at 5:09 PM.
