A proposed extension of Charleston County’s half-percent sales tax could raise $5.4 billion to fund the Mark Clark Extension and many other local projects, and a series of five meetings has been scheduled to collect public input on those plans.
Extending the life of the tax beyond its 2026 expiration would leave the county with one of the state’s highest sales tax rates, 9 percent. The tax could be in place until 2051 and would inject new funding into road projects, green space preservation, transit programs and bicycle/pedestrian initiatives.
County Council has not voted to put the sales tax referendum on the 2024 ballot but has discussed plans to do so since at least June of 2023.