If I own a pickup truck with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds, do I get the 6% personal motor vehicle property tax rate or the 10.5% rate for other personal property?

Plain-English summary

Representative Fawn Pedalino asked how South Carolina should classify a pickup truck described as individually owned and operated, weighing 8,000 pounds empty and 9,000 pounds gross. She also asked whether the manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) matters to its property-tax assessment rate.

The AG says a pickup meeting those assumed facts should be classified as a personal motor vehicle and assessed at the constitutional 6% rate, assuming it is designed, used, and maintained to transport ten or fewer people. The office expressly says it cannot determine the facts for the particular truck. Its answer applies the statutory criteria to the facts supplied in the request.

For this classification, the AG reads the law to require individual ownership and operation, a capacity of ten or fewer people, empty weight no more than 9,000 pounds, and gross weight no more than 11,000 pounds. It says GVWR as defined in § 56-1-2030 does not affect the classification or assessment rate.

What this means for you

If you own a pickup truck

The opinion identifies the legal test for the 6% personal motor vehicle rate. Check the actual ownership, use, passenger capacity, empty weight, and gross weight of your truck. The AG did not verify the constituent's truck or decide how a different ownership arrangement, such as a company vehicle, would be classified.

If you handle vehicle tax assessments

The AG distinguishes gross weight under § 56-3-20(19) from GVWR under § 56-1-2030. Its answer says the latter does not control the personal motor vehicle classification. Apply the stated statutory factors to the vehicle's actual facts; the opinion does not make those factual findings for you.

Common questions

What rate did the AG identify for the described pickup?

Six percent, assuming the supplied ownership and weight facts are accurate and the truck meets the condition that it be designed, used, and maintained to transport ten or fewer people.

What are the weight limits?

For the classification discussed, the AG gives an empty-weight limit of 9,000 pounds and a gross-weight limit of 11,000 pounds.

Does a manufacturer's GVWR decide the classification?

No. The AG says GVWR under § 56-1-2030 has no bearing on this classification. It uses gross weight as defined in § 56-3-20(19): vehicle weight without a load plus the weight of any load.

Does this opinion decide how a truck owned by a sole proprietor, LLC, or corporation is taxed?

No. The AG addresses a truck assumed to be owned and operated by an individual. It does not analyze those separate ownership forms.

Did the AG decide the constituent's actual assessment or any refund claim?

No. The office says it cannot determine facts about the particular vehicle. It gives the rate that follows if the supplied facts and other stated conditions are met, and it does not address refunds.

Background and statutory framework

Article X, § 1(8) of the South Carolina Constitution sets the 6% personal motor vehicle assessment rate and a different rate for other personal property. Section 12-37-2645 incorporates the private passenger motor vehicle definition in § 56-3-630, with pickup-truck weight limits of 9,000 pounds empty and 11,000 pounds gross. The opinion uses § 56-3-20(19) to define gross weight for this part of Title 56.

The AG explains why it does not import the GVWR definition from the commercial driver licensing provisions in § 56-1-2030. It then applies the relevant statutes to the facts described by the requester, while reserving factual verification of the particular truck.

Citations and references

• S.C. Const. art. X, § 1(8)(B)(1): personal motor vehicle assessment rate.
• S.C. Code §§ 12-37-2645, 56-3-630: pickup classification and weight limits.
• S.C. Code § 56-3-20(19): gross-weight definition.
• S.C. Code § 56-1-2030(16): GVWR definition distinguished by the AG.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/opinion-regarding-the-assessment-rate-for-pickup-trucks/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/media/c3mfd3ad/pedalinof-os-11069-final-opinion-10-13-2025.pdf

Original opinion text

ALAN WILSON
ATTORNEY GENERAL

October 13, 2025

The Honorable Fawn M. Pedalino, Member
South Carolina House of Representatives
PO Box 11867

Columbia, SC 29211

Dear Representative Pedalino:

Attorney General Alan Wilson referred your letter to the Opinions section for a response. You seek an opinion regarding whether a pickup truck with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds qualifies, for tax assessment purposes, as a personal motor vehicle; if the subject truck is classified as a personal motor vehicle, what should its assessment rate be; and what, if any, relevance does a vehicle’s gross vehicle weight rating, as defined in S.C. Code Ann, § 56-1-2030, have to the vehicle’s classification and assessment rate. You included with your letter, and in a subsequent email, information relating to the tax bill for a particular pickup truck owned by one of your constituents.

Law/Analysis

This Office is unable to determine facts in an advisory opinion. As we have stated in prior opinions, “[b]ecause this Office does not have the authority of a court or other fact-finding body, we are not able to adjudicate or investigate factual questions.” Op. S.C. Att’y Gen., 2003 WL 21040130 at 1 (Feb. 19, 2003) (quoting Op. S.C. Att’y Gen., Oct. 10, 1985, at 2 and Sept. 3, 1999, at *2). Therefore, this Office cannot make factual determinations regarding the proper tax assessment rate for the specific pickup truck you reference, but the Office can render an opinion on general questions of law regarding how to classify a pickup truck owned and operated by an individual with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds and the resulting tax assessment.

Article X § 1 of the South Carolina Constitution authorizes the General Assembly to “provide for the ad valorem taxation by the State or any of its subdivisions of all real and personal property.” Article X § 1 then lists a variety of classifications for property and proscribes an assessment rate for each category.! See S.C. Const. art. X § 1. The first seven subsections do not

' Assessment rates form one portion of the formula used to calculate a property owner’s tax liability. Generally, tax liability is calculated according to the following formula:

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The Honorable Fawn M, Pedalino
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October 13, 2025

address the classification or assessment rate for motor vehicles owned and operated by individuals.” Id. § 1 (1)-(7). Subsection (8)(A) serves a catch-all provision requiring “all other personal property must be taxed on an assessment equal to ten and one-half percent of the fair market value of the property;” however, subsection (8)(B)(1) then provides an exception for personal motor vehicles stating:

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, must be taxed on an assessment equal to [six percent] of fair market value of the property.*

Id. § 1(8). Thus, the assessment rate for qualifying personal motor vehicles is 6%, and the assessment rate for all other motor vehicles owned and operated by individuals is 10.5%.

As you point out in your letter, S.C. Code Ann. § 12-37-2645 lays out criteria to determine whether a vehicle qualifies as a personal motor vehicle under Article X § 1(8)(B)(1). Section 12- 37-2645 states:

[For defining those motor vehicles subject to the assessment ratios provided in Section 1(8)(B)(a)* of Article X of the Constitution of this State, the definition

Assessed Value multiplied by the Assessment Rate (determined by the classification of the property and set by the Constitution) multiplied by the Millage Rate (determined by the entity levying the tax, e.g., county council, school district, city, etc.) divided by 1,000 equals Tax Liability.

• Subsections 1 and 2 establish assessment rates for property “owned by or leased to manufacturers,
  utilities and mining operations and used by the manufacturer, utility or mining operation, in the conduct of such business” or “owned by or leased to companies primarily engaged in transportation for hire of persons or property and used by the company in the conduct of such business,” respectively. While these classifications could cover motor vehicles, they do not affect motor vehicles owned and operated by individuals, such as the pickup truck your letter references, and therefore are not relevant to the remaining analysis of this opinion.

3 Tn 2001, a constitutional amendment was ratified which provided for a gradual lowering of the assessment rate on personal motor vehicles beginning with a drop from 10.5% to 9.75% in 2002 and decreasing by another 0.75% each year until reaching 6% in 2007. Act No. 10, 2001 S.C. Acts

68. Since 2007, the personal motor vehicle tax rate has remained at 6%. See S.C. Const. art. X

§ 1(8)(B)().

• While § 12-37-2645 refers to “Section 1(8)(B)(a) of Article X,” the correct constitutional
  reference is Article X § 1(8)(B)(1). Given both address the lowered assessment rate for personal motor vehicles, it appears this is simply a typographical error and that § 12-37-2645 is meant to reference Article X § 1(8)(B)(1). The remainder of this opinion is subject to this assumption.

The Honorable Fawn M. Pedalino
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October 13, 2025

of ‘private passenger motor vehicle’ provided in Section 56-3-630 applies except that in the case of pickup trucks, the empty weight and gross weight limits provided in that definition are increased respectively to nine thousand pounds or less and eleven thousand pounds or less and the definition is deemed to include motorcycles.

S.C, Code Ann. § 12-37-2645 (2014). As a result, we then turn to S.C. Code Ann. § 56-3- 630 which reads:

The Department of Motor Vehicles shall classify as a private passenger motor vehicle every motor vehicle which is designed, used, and maintained for the transportation of ten or fewer persons and trucks having an empty weight of nine thousand pounds or less and a gross weight of eleven thousand pounds or less....

§ 56-3-630 (Supp. 2025).

You note in your letter that there is some confusion about whether the definition of “gross vehicle weight rating” in § 56-1-2030(16) may be relevant to determining if a vehicle qualifies as a personal motor vehicle under Article X § 1(8)(B)(1). The term “gross vehicle weight rating” is not used in Article X § 1(8)(B)(1), S.C. Code Ann. § 12-37-2645, or S.C. Code Ann. § 56-3-630. Thus, it does not have any relevance when determining whether a motor vehicle qualifies for the 6% personal motor vehicle assessment rate.

Moreover, § 56-3-20 defines a variety of words and phrases “for the purposes of this chapter.” S.C, Code Ann. § 56-3-20 (Supp. 2025). In § 56-3-20, “this chapter” refers to Chapter 3 of Title 56. Chapter 3 includes, inter alia, Article 5: Registration and License Fees, in which § 56- 3-630 is located. In contrast, § 56-1-2030 is located in Article 13 of Chapter 1 of Title 56. Section 56-1-2030 begins “As used in this article.” S.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-2030 (2018). Section 56-3-630 is not in Article 13 of Chapter 1 of Title 56, and we are aware of no provisions incorporating the definition from § 56-1-2030(19) into Article 3 of Chapter 3 of Title 56. Thus, for the purposes of
§ 56-3-630 the relevant definition of “gross weight” and “gross weight vehicle” is found in § 56- 3-20(19), not § 56-1-2030(16).

“Gross weight” and “gross weight vehicle” are defined, for the purposes of § 56-3-630, as “the weight of a vehicle without load plus the weight of any load on it.” S.C. Code Ann. § 56-3- 20(19) (Supp. 2025). Therefore, to qualify for the reduced personal motor vehicle assessment rate of 6% in Article X § 1(8)(B)(1) a pickup truck must be (1) owned and operated by an individual, (2) “designed, used, and maintained for the transportation of ten or fewer persons” and (3) have an empty weight of 9,000 pounds or less and a gross weight of 11,000 pounds or less.

Which brings us to your questions. First, does a pickup truck owned and operated by an individual with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds qualify for

The Honorable Fawn M. Pedalino
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tax assessment purposes as a personal motor vehicle. Yes, it does. The vehicle is owned and operated by an individual, so it is governed by Article X § 1(8), not subsections 1 or 2. The truck’s empty weight, 8,000 pounds, and gross weight, 9,000 pounds, are below the statutory requirements of 9,000 pounds and 11,000 pounds, respectively. Assuming that the vehicle is “designed, used, and maintained for the transportation of ten or fewer persons,” the truck appears to qualify as a private passenger motor vehicle under § 56-3-630. Pursuant to § 12-37-2645, the truck therefore qualifies as a personal motor vehicle under Art. X § 1(8)(B)(1).

Second, you ask if a pickup truck qualifies as a personal motor vehicle, what should its assessment rate be. The assessment rate for a qualifying personal motor vehicle should be 6%. Article X § 1(8)(B)(1) states, “Personal motor vehicles . . . must be taxed on an assessment equal to [six percent] of fair market value of the property.” S.C. Const. art. X § 1(8)(B)(1) (emphasis added). The Constitution plainly states that the assessment rate for qualifying personal motor vehicles must be 6%.

Finally, you ask what, if any, relevance does a vehicle’s gross vehicle weight rating, as defined in $.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-2030, have to the vehicle’s classification and assessment rate. As is discussed above, the definition of “gross vehicle weight rating” in § 56-1-2030(16) has no bearing on whether a vehicle qualifies as a personal motor vehicle or which assessment rate should

apply to a vehicle.
Conclusion

The Office does not have the authority to make factual determinations regarding a particular vehicle; however assuming the facts you provided, a pickup truck owned and operated by an individual with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds should be classified for tax assessment purposes as a personal motor vehicle; the pickup truck’s assessment rate should be the six percent rate specified in the South Carolina Constitution for personal motor vehicles; and the vehicle’s gross vehicle weight rating, as defined in S.C. Code Ann. § 56-1-2030, is irrelevant to the truck’s classification and assessment rate.

Ww

The Honorable Fawn M. Pedalino
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October 13, 2025

REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:
Sze

obert D. Cook
Solicitor General Emeritus