The sales tax rate increases today in Charleston County by a penny for every dollar spent, putting more strain on recession-weary consumers who have been watching the price of basic necessities rise and rise again.
County residents voted in November to tax themselves — and the county’s many tourists — a bit more in order to fund school construction projects, but the increase kicks in at an unfortunate time.
Gasoline prices are up nearly 10 percent from just a month ago; the federal inflation measure that tracks food prices posted its largest increase in two years in January; and in most areas, water and electricity rates have been marching up, as well.