2000 General Election Constitutional Amendment Questions

Instructions: Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word ‘Yes’, and those voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross mark in the square after the word ‘No’.

Number 1

"Must Section 7, Article XVII of the Constitution of this State be amended so as to delete references to the prohibition on lotteries, their advertising, and ticket sales and to provide that lotteries may be conducted only by the State in the manner that the General Assembly provides by law with the lottery revenues first being used to pay operating expenses and prizes and the remaining revenues credited to a separate ‘Education Lottery Account’ in the state treasury, the earnings on which are credited to this account, with all account proceeds used only for education as the General Assembly provides by law?"

Explanation of above:

Under the current law, the Constitution bans all lotteries. A "Yes" vote would abolish the ban in the Constitution. Only the State of South Carolina would be authorized to conduct lotteries in the future and only for educational purposes. This Amendment would leave it up to the Legislature to determine the method of conducting State-run lotteries. After state lottery proceeds are used to pay operating expenses and prizes, the Legislature will provide for the educational purposes for which these State-run lottery proceeds must be used.

A "No" vote leaves the Constitutional ban on lotteries in place as it is.

Yes [ ]

No [ ]

"Must Section 1 (8), Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to assessment ratio on ‘all other personal property’, be amended so as to establish a separate class of property for purposes of the property tax consisting of personal motor vehicles which must be titled by a state or federal agency, limited to passenger motor vehicles and pickup trucks, as defined by law, which must be assessed for property tax at the rate of nine and seventy-five hundredths percent of fair market value declining in equal annual reductions over six years to a permanent rate of six percent; and to define property tax year as property tax years beginning after 2001 or such earlier tax years as the General Assembly may provide by law?"

Explanation of above:

A "Yes" vote reduces, over 6 years, the property tax assessment on cars and pickup trucks from the current 10.5 percent to 6 percent of the fair market value.

A "No" vote keeps the existing 10.5 percent assessment on cars and pickup trucks.

Yes [ ]

No [ ]

"Must Section 3, Article X of the Constitution of this State, relating to property tax exemptions, be amended so as to allow the governing body of a county by ordinance to impose a sales and use tax in order to exempt all or a portion of the value of private passenger motor vehicles, motorcycles, general aviation aircraft, boats, and boat motors from property taxes levied in the county and to allow this exemption or its subsequent rescission, only pursuant to a referendum held in the county in the manner that the General Assembly provides by law?"

Explanation of above:

A "Yes" vote allows a county, by local referendum, to approve an additional sales and use tax that, if passed, would remove all, or a portion of, property taxes levied on cars, pickup trucks, motorcycles, general aviation aircraft, boats, and boat motors registered in that county.

A "No" vote keeps the current system of property tax.

Yes [ ]

No [ ]