Union County Voters Reject FLOST Proposal

Voter support for a proposed new penny sales tax in Union County came up short in Tuesday’s election. The controversial Floating Local Option Sales Tax (FLOST) was voted down by a margin of roughly 700 votes, with 55.85% voting “no” and 44.15% voting “yes” out of approximately 5,900 total ballots cast.

Supporters of FLOST promoted the measure as a way to lower property taxes by shifting some of the revenue burden to a higher consumer sales tax. The county’s sales tax rate currently stands at seven percent, and the proposed increase would have raised it to eight percent.

Advocates said the plan was meant to function as a “tax swap” rather than a new tax, but voter response suggested many were unwilling to support another increase. Observers pointed to the failure of the T-SPLOST proposal a few years ago as an early indication that the additional penny would face resistance.

About 30% of Union County’s registered voters participated in the election.