COLUMBIA, SC (WBTW) – A new law that took effect in South Carolina on January 1 removes the sales tax on construction materials bought by charities that build and renovate homes for low-income families.
“Any materials that we buy, it applies to,” says Roy Kramer, executive director of Central SC Habitat for Humanity. “Anybody that we serve, as long as they’re within the 80 percent median area income.” To qualify, a family can make no more than 80 percent of the median income of the county in which they live.
He says on a new home that Habitat builds, removing the sales tax will save the charity at least $3,000. Habitat will put that money into more new homes or renovating existing ones for low-income families.
The law was passed to help groups like Habitat for Humanity and Home Works of America, which renovates home for elderly and low-income families, but it is also expected to help low-income families whose homes were damaged by recent flooding. “We’re looking to start our work with the flood victims that have fallen through the cracks and are low-income families,” Kramer says.
