S.C. Code Ann. § 12-36-910 – Five percent tax on tangible personal property; laundry services, electricity, communication services, and manufacturer-consumed goods

(A) A sales tax, equal to five percent of the gross proceeds of sales, is imposed upon every person engaged or continuing within this State in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail.
(B) The sales tax imposed by this article also applies to the:
1. (1) gross proceeds accruing or proceeding from the business of providing or furnishing any laundering, dry cleaning, dyeing, or pressing service, but does not apply to the gross proceeds derived from coin-operated laundromats and dry cleaning machines;
2. (2) gross proceeds accruing or proceeding from the sale of electricity;
3. (3) gross proceeds accruing or proceeding from the charges for the ways or means for the transmission of the voice or messages, including the charges for use of equipment furnished by the seller or supplier of the ways or means for the transmission of the voice or messages;
4. (4) fair market value of tangible personal property manufactured within this State, and used or consumed within this State by the manufacturer.
(C) Notwithstanding other provisions in this article or Article 13, Chapter 36, of this title, the sales or use tax imposed by those articles does not apply to the gross proceeds accruing or proceeding from charges for or use of data processing. As used in this subsection, "data processing" means the manipulation of information furnished by a customer through all or part of a series of operations involving an interaction of procedures, processes, methods, personnel, and computers. It also means the electronic transfer of or access to that information. Examples of the processing include, without limitation, summarizing, computing, extracting, storing, retrieving, sorting, sequencing, and the use of computers.