Hilton Head’s Real Estate Transfer Fee is the only one of its kind in the state of South Carolina because it was enacted three years prior to the General Assembly’s adoption of S.C. Code Ann. § 6-1-70 , which forbade real estate real estate transfer fees and taxes. However, § 6-1-70 grandfathered all such fees that were in existence prior to January 1, 1991. The year prior to the General Assembly’s adoption of § 6-1-70, the Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld the ordinance as “necessary and proper for the general welfare of the citizens of Hilton Head Island” in Williams v. Town of Hilton Head Island. The Town of Hilton Head Island considers the real estate transfer fee a success. Since 1991, it has raised $23 million dollars through the modest tax, which has been used to preserve natural areas, open space, and parks throughout the island.