WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsCounty expects less boat tax money

County expects less boat tax money

By Kyle Grainger - bio | email

MYRTLE BEACH, SC  (WMBF) –  Horry County Auditor Lois Eargle says she expects to collect less money this year for boat taxes due to the poor economy.

A number of people throughout the boating industry say they're seeing more boats for sale and an increase in used boat sales. Other people are getting rid of them altogether, leaving less money to be collected from boat taxes.

"With the economy, people just cannot afford the payments on the boat and operating the boats, so I guess they're deciding, 'Am I going to keep my place and eat or am I going to have a boat?'" said Eargle. "I would say probably the taxes will probably go down some, but to the extent, I won't know right now."

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Brett Witt says the agency wouldn't classify abandoned boats as being a problem, but that they are seeing cases of it.  He says right now, they are going through rivers, creeks and waterways to figure out which boats are abandoned.

"[The] DNR is still in the process of actually identifying boats throughout the state that are abandoned. We are in the mapping phase of where everything is," said Witt.

A local marina says they believe 10 to 20 percent of the boats that come through recently have had a for sale sign on them.  However, a local dealer says they had a really strong spring, especially for used boats.

Eargle says she may not know until January exactly how much the county may have to make up from a loss of boat taxes.

"We'll know probably to the first of the year to how the economy has affected the tax rate," she added.

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