Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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New (?) income tax helps government grow You might not believe this, but collecting income taxes from • majority of the nation’s workers is a relatively new thing in U. S. history. During the first 125 years of the Federal government, such taxing power was illegal. On Feb. 15, 1913, the 19th amend ment to the Constitution chang ed all that. Even so, individual income taxes were not a major source of Fedaral income for another 25 years. In 1914, only 357,598 per sons filed income tax returns. They paid $41 million in taxes, accounting for about five per cent of the Fedaral government’s re ceipts. By 1939, seven and one-half million Average South Carolina taxpayer The average South Carolinian in 1962 filed a joint return with his wife, had slightly better than two dependents in addition, and paid a tax on a combined income of between $4,000 and $5,000, or about $700. State returns for the year were 615,884 in number of which 433,669 were taxable. The $5,000 to $6,000 income bracket was second largest after the $4,000 to $5,000. persons were filing in come tax returns, but only about half that number had to pay any taxes. Slightly less than four million taxpayers paid about $891 million into the treasury, ac counting for about 18 per cent of the Federal government’s re- ^ ceipts. In fiscal year 1963, almost 63 million Americans filed income tax returns, paying into the U. S. treasury about $70 billion—well over half of the nation’s tax re ceipts. In South Carolina, $336,819,000 was collected of individuals via income taxes in fiscal year 1963. Coupled with other taxes, it . brought to $461,642,000 the amount of Federal tax money col lected in the state. Responsible for the collection of Federal taxes is the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Treasury Department, headed by a commissioner (pres ently Mortimer M. Caplin). Each state has a District Director (in South Carolina, Harold M. Mc Leod of Timmonsville). A breakdown on state statistics is as follows: Taxable returns in 1962: Under $1,000 — 17,079 filed $1,000 under $2,000 — 39,955 $2,000 under $3,000 — 54,657 $3,000 under $4,000 — 72,879 $4,000 under $5,000 — 66,527 $5,000 under $6,000 — 47,185 $6,000 under $7,000 — 41,239 $7,000 under $8,000 — 32,661 To collect over $100 billion in 1963, Mr. Caplin’s office spent $500 million. To collect $461 million in South Carolina, Mr. McLeod’s group spent $2.6 mil lion. The relative ease of collecting Federal taxes, thanks to the withholding method adopted during World War II, has been a major factor in the growth of the Federal government during the past 25 years. Mr. Parkinson’s second law, “Expenditures rise to meet in come,” has never been presented more graphically than in the U. S. government since the with holding tax era. The Executive and Legislative Branches of the government can’t resist spending all that tax money — even com mitting unborn generations to a* continuance of high expenditures via such programs as Public Housing, Urban Renewal, ex panded Social Security, etc. It’s not unlike the average working man who comes home from the office to notify his wife that he’s just been given a $25 a month raise. He gets the raise all right, but the money’s usual ly committed for a new car, kit chen appliances, television, or l something from the day he gets the raise until the day he retires. Two of the most valid com plaints against the income tax are: (1) it results in government by man, not law, and (2) it intrudes heavily into the area of man’s basic rights. In the past quarter century, since paying income taxes by the masses has become a way of life, tax regulations and rulings have become so voluminous as to oc cupy shelves of libraries. No one man can possibly stay on top of the subject, and the inequities resulting are many. Man, in the form of Internal Revenue Audit ors, interprets this mass of liter ature in the event of controversy, and in order to appeal his rulings, one must be prepared to spend a small fortune in time and money. As for other basic rights threatened, the Internal Revenue Service can attach bank accounts and property without court or der, seize records without war rants, and double team the tax payers through arrangements with state tax commissions. Supporters of the law and its administration are quick to point Source of Budget Hit Budftt Rectiptt SS6.4 button Dollar Individual Income Taxes S.1% “i 10 Corporation Income Taxes 25.0% Excise Taxes 11.5% Estate and Gift Taxes Customs 1.4% Miscellaneous 4.5% 2.5% out the relatively small percent age of possible injustices in the processing of 68 million individ ual and 22.3 million corporation returns. Statistically they are correct, but we wonder how many of the thousands subjected to high-handedness each year take satisfaction in such statis tics. Tax reform is obviously one of the crying needs of the nation and was to have come in a pack age with the income tax reduc tions this year. It did not. We wonder if it ever will come. A simple fact of life is that the le gal profession probably makes as much money in the area of in come taxes as in any other way. The more complicated the laws, the more work for them. The le gal profession traditionally main tains a majority of the seats in both houses of Congress and in all state legislatures. Perhaps no group of Federal employees needs more patience, common sense, and feel for jus tice than do the employees of the Internal Revenue Service. This has been recognized in the past decade or so, resulting in the re moval of the Service from under political control. Only the Na tional Commissioner is consider ed a political appointment today. In South Carolina, District Di rector McLeod is a Wofford Col lege graduate; he taught school for four years in Wellford; and he has served with the Revenue people since 1933. He has been District Director since 1960. Mr. McLeod’s office in 1963 col lected the following sums in the state: Income & emp. taxes $336,819,000 Corporation taxes 90,148,000 Extate taxes 15,092,000 Alcohol taxes 1,036,000 Tobacco taxes 1,984,000 Stamps on documents 515,000 Gasoline taxes 6,960,000 Misc. manufacturers’- 974,000 Retailers’ excise taxes 2,585,000 Misc. excise taxes 4,644,000 Total $461,642,000 MAY, 1964 ► . i . / / l i-. • ' . , » i ' \ - T i I Rm. W. J. Bryaa Doan tee assignments; however, it is better for the system of govern ment if he does devote most of his time to becoming a specialist in this area. Ideally, the members of Congress are assigned to com mittees where they have ample training to do a good job. (For example, Senator Thurmond, a major general in the Army Re serve with strong interests in the nation’s defense, is on the Armed Services Committee where his experience enables him to make a strong contribution.) Members of Congress are sub jected to tons of mail each term of office, countless phone calls, and several thousand visitors from their home state. (This is at least true of South Carolina’s representatives.) While the powers and respon sibilities of the jobs in Congress have increased, the political ob ligations which can keep a man in office have also become great er. The combination is almost more than the average man can bear and has resulted on many occasions in the elected repre sentative either: (1) putting too much emphasis on staying in of fice and not enough on doing a good job, or (2) studying his committee work to the extent of not keeping an ear open to what the people back home are think ing. The one offers a good way to stay in office as a parasite; the other provides a good way to get defeated. The kind of job a member of Congress does is largely in the hands of each stockholder of the Federal government — assuming Two speakers from Carolina S Up—Itt Lanpd— Ch— 8p—k#r Jam— L* Oww Were President Lyndon Johnson to die or become incapacitated between now and January 20, 1965, Speaker of the House of Repre sentatives John McCormack of Massachusetts would become the new President. While he might be relatively unknown to most people, he is the choice of the majority party in Congress as their leader. His authority in Congress is second to none. South Carolina has twice had the distinction of having a Represent ative so honored by his fellow Congressmen. Langdori Cheves, in only his fourth year in Congress, was elected Speaker in 1814-15; James On* served as Speaker' in his fifth of five terms in the House, 1857-59. On the Senate side of the Capital, John Gaillard of South Carolina served as President Pro-Tern on three different occasions — 1809-10, 1814-18, 1819-25. he exercises his right to vote and doesn’t take his responsibilities too lightly. Just as the member of Congress today needs to be more intelligent and principled than ever before, so does the vot er in order to make the correct decision when he casts his ballot. It may well be time for the job to seek the man rather than a continuation of the prevailing system whereby the man seeks the job in politics. Politics is where the power is, the Kennedys as well as many others have noted. Politics is also people. Therefore, the power is in the hands of the people. It is within the power of the people to defeat even the strongest Presi dent, U. S. Representative and Senator and to give his power to someone else. Power rests in the position and not in the individ ual. r. it wm •ditor to of ^ Oo. to <ttM in Atlanta# ftftp to Mm fteto go tat Columbia; Library of Washington; Agxiculturo Clamson; 8.C. Highway Columbia; Harris A Ewing. Commissionar of Raranua's annual Committee assignments of state delegation Committee assignments of South Carolina delegation to Congress are as follows: Senator Olin D. Johnston — Post Office and Civil Service, chair man; Judiciary, ranking member; Agriculture and Forestry, ranking member; Joint Committee on Disposition of Executive Papers; Joint Committee on Immigration and Nationality Policy. Senator Strom Thurmond — Armed Services; Commerce. Rep. John McMillan — District of Columbia, chairman; Agriculture. Rep. Mendel Rivers — Armed Services, ranking member; Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Rep. W. J. Bryan Dorn — Veterans Affairs, ranking member; Pub lic Works. Rep. Robert Ashmore — House Administration; Judiciary. Rep. Robert Hemphill — Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Rep. Albert Watson — Post Office and Civil Service. THE SOUTH CAROLINIAN CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO ZJke South Carolinian W« Are Pleased to Have Been Selected to Print This Issue Gty* lutfiltt} progr^HH SPECIALIZING IN WEB OFFSET NEWSPAPERS .