Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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frtvjg yQUR . .a THE NEWBERRY SUN ERIUAY, DECEMBER 18, 1944 un 1218 College Street NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA O. F. ARMFIELD Editor and Publisher Published Eve>ry Friday In The Year Entered as second-class matter December 6, 1937, at tht postoffice at Newberry, South Carolina, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. SPECTATOR Workers are taking note of the taxes deducted from their pay and are thinking about the increasing per-centage charged against them as their pay increases. Some days ago I dropped in on a friend who has been one of my ra dio fans. Something was said about taxes. Every time he sees me he thinks about taxes because he always associates me with thei Farmers and Taxpayers League. We talked about the taxes on his business, a one-man business it is. Here is what he said: “I’m allowed $12.00 exemption for myself and $12.00 a week for my wife. My vent, license, taxes, fuel, | everyday and Sunday, too, with over lights, and depreciation of equip- ; time. When he figured out what ment may be $12.00 a week more, was coming to him, after paying the So after I make $36.00 a week I , ta::e- would have had more mon- know I’m in for Uncle Sam to come ey if he hadn’t done so much over in. Sorwetimies it doesn't;, pay to time. He was working against nim- make too much. A fellow can be so smart that he works against him self.” My friend may not be entirely c reel in his figures on general over- se’f He knows better now.” What is the ornbable consequence of that? Most people are alike, ti, PV OW n. o" manage great entorrr’ses. oi- work for wages. If head but he is near enough for us j the more work, the !o<s you get, how to use his estimate for illustration. A fine-looking young man then spoke up. We had been talking of the Excess-profits tax and also how a very heavy income might leave a man in a bad plight. Said the young fellow: “You telling me; l^rg will you carry on, on that bas is? It doesn’t make sense, as the tv'" in the street would say. If a farmer knew that he would receive S6000 for 50 bales of cot ton and $5000 for 55 bales how many farmers would haul 55 bales to mar- look at these figures.’ He took from j Vet ? That, in principle, is what is his pocket a slip and showed me hsnpening on incomes. Of course something like this: On an income some large producers of cotton and of $30.00 a week his tax—he is a I tobacco may be affected, in princi- married man with children—his in- i pie, as I stated above, though they come tax would be thirty cents a ; are hit by the general income tax week; for $180.00 a week his tax ia"d may not think of it in terms of would be $19.80. As I said before, I do not guaran tee the correctness of the informa tion of the two gentlemen, but I do guarantee the correctness of my quotations from their remarks. “See”, said the young man, “a fellow can work so many hours that he will lose money.” “I have a friend”, he continued, “who got so smart that he worked overtime bales of cotton. We are so keenly desirous to hold down t)ie big man that the little fel low is kept in the ditch, sitting on the big one. And both suffering for it. As a matter of fairness, if ten percent of one’s income is right for the little man, isn’t ten per cent fair for the big man ? Aren’t we going too far into socialism and general NEW PLANTS SPEED 100-0CTANE PRODUCTION Jlgfilfl mm NEW AVIATION GASOLINE UNITS of most modern design at Sinclair refineries, are now producing 100-octane gasoline. Sinclair’s output of this vital fuel runs .< into thousands of barrels a day. " ___ / ! t ‘ TO BACK OUR BOYS in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard, Sinclair is also pro* ducing vast quantities of fuel oil for battleships, lubricating oil for planes, tanks and jeeps, toluene for bombs and butylene for synthetic rubber. s hsi c Lai r ■Klpfllj SINCLAIR DEALERS have a war job, too. Four out of five workers use private cars to get to their jobs. Sinclair Dealers are giving these cars the kind of service they need to keep running. Let the Sinclair Dealer care for your car, too. BUY MORE WAR BONDS AND STAMPS SINCLAIR S. C. PAYSINGER, Agent NEWBERRY, S. C. paternalism, or rather, penalism, when we aim at limiting the big in come just as a means of levelling off people ? Our present arrangement invites and compensates a man, or an in dustry, for doing less work. The more you -do, the leas, you get;-the less you do; the" more '" you make. Well, that’s a brilliant peice of ec onomic philosophy, isn’t it? But, in essence, that is the ruling philoso phy of the day. It overturns all the Divine plan for thrifty men of stea dy work; it upsets the experience of the ages; it flies in the face of com mon sense. This country needs men to work; to work with their hands and with their brains; to work with their cap ital; but we are so set on curbing the big fellows that we strangle all at the same time. I said that I wasn’t sure of the figures. Well, I had an experience which reminded me of my days as a law student. I still am a student of law. The great authority on nego tiable Instruments—checks, drafts, notes and other commercial paper— was the eminent Virginian, John W. Daniel. He could not remember the law governing a certain piece of bankable paper, so he looked it up. As a result of his study he produced his famous work, Daniel on Nego tiable Instruments. He told a friend about it and the friend asked “Well, what is the law on that”? Major Daniel scratched his head and re plied, “I don’t know.” I’ve talked and written so much about Government bonds, Income taxes and withholding pay that it mortifies me to find that I’ve read so much about these things that I am more at sea than ever. But it was comforting to find that one of my simple doubts caught a banker offguard, and as much at sea as 11 ? n “ no * ^ or T? ven “ e - was. Well, so it -was. I said to my banker-friend "That young fellow is a maried man and has a wife and three children. He said that the tax would climb from thirty cents a week on $30.00, to $19.80 on $180’. The Banker got out the Government blanks and - searched for all the different incomes. Here’s what he ofund for a man with a wife and three childern: $ 20.00 a week $ .30 40.00 a week 1.00 100.00 a week 12.60 150.00 a week 22.60 180.00 a week 28.60 200.00 a week 30.60 You observe this peculiarity: An income of $20.00 requires 30c a week, but ten times as m\<;lh income-^ $200.00—requires, not ten times as much, but 100 times as much, or $30.60! By the time a man rises to the level of “big money” the tax' South Carolina affecting the exemp tion of municipal-owned property from taxation. Section 2578 of the Code of 1942 provides for the exemp tion of certain enumerated property from taxation. I fail to find any property such as that proposed $o be acquired by the.City of Columbia listed therein". A little farther on the opinion says: “From the fore going (citing case of the Housing Corporation) I am of the opinion that the property of the power com pany, if and when acquired by the city of Columbia, will become muni cipal property within the meaning of section 4, article 10 of the State Constitution . . . and will, therefore, be exempt from taxation and special assessment.” Now where are we? The Constitution of South Carolina declares some fundamental princi ples of law. For example, it has long been a principle of taxation that a church or charitable organiza- ! tion may claim exemption from tax- j ation for such property as it may j build or acquire for its use, but which does not yield revenue. The same principle has been true of pub lic property, municipal property for example. If it yields revenue it is a business, not an enterprise en joying governmental exemption from taxation. Hear the Constitution, speaking for itself: Taxes (munici pal) shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction (of municipalities) arti cle 8, Section 6. Cities are also prohibited from issuing bonds be yond eight per cent of the assessed value of the property within their jurisdiction. The Constitution provides (arti cle 10, Section 4) that “There shall be exempted from taxation all Coun ty, township and municipal property used exclusively for public purposes Certainly a that clear mean what it says: or may a ma jority of those actually voting de cide the issue? The question has special jrelevancy here because in section 7 of article 8 the Constitu tion says that a bonded indebted ness of a town may not be created unless voted for by a majority of those voting, tion must be where are we? NOTICE OF STOCKHOLDERS MEETING layman would think enough. The Housing case referred to was one in which a sum was accepted in lieu of taxes, and the attorney, on the strength of that decision, sug gests that the Legislature might pass an act authorizing the City of Oolumbia to pay a set sum. But how the city of Columbia can do that for Fairfield Coutny is not clear. Furthermore, Section 13 of Article 10 provides; “ . . . State, County .township, school, municipal and other taxes shall be levied on the same assessment . . .”. It fol lows thait equitable assessment of all would be by the same procedure. Nothing so unsettles the minds of citizens as finding judicial decisions which seem to get around the plain mandates of the Constitution. We sometimes marvel at the evasion of the Constitution by the General As sembly, but we expect the courts to begins to outrun the net sum avail- hew to the line. If a concern may able to the man who earns it. An attorney is quoted in the press as advising that the city of Colum bia may acquire and operate the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company and pay an agreed sum to the County in lieu of County taxes. This conclusion is based on an opin ion of our State Supreme Court in a housing venture of the city. (188 S. C. 377). Laymen frequently fail to appre ciate the fine points of legal and udicial reasoning. If lawyers them selves are at sea they remain silent and cultivate an appearance of great wisdom. What would' a mere layman understand from this: “I have re viewed the State Constitution of 1895 and the Supreme Court decisions of bargain about its taxes and make special arrangements, the State is not treating all its citizens alike. The Constitution says that no election for the purpose of bonding a municipality shall be held except on petition from a majority of free holders of said city as shown by its tax books. At such an election those may vote wlho are registered for municipal elections, but they must have been registered first for the State and County elections. (Arti cle 2, Section 12). Without intending to quibble, I wonder what this means: “No such purchase shall he made except upon a majority vote of the electors . . . who are qualified to vote on the bonded indebtedness . . . ? Does it' m "Sir v- EVERYONE Likes Flowers for Christmas Flowers bring a note of cheer that seems to magnify the holiday spirit. So, for more happiness at Christmas time, give flowers. We have a nice selection of CHRISTMAS FLOWERS in POTTED PLANTS of all kinds; CUT FLOWERS, MEMORIAL WREATHES and CORSAGES. We fix up all flowers in attractive Christmas paper ar l ribbons. Phone your order early to 592-W and it will be given our personal attention. We also specialize in FUNERAL DESIGNING. Hillcrest Florists MRS. J. D. KINARD, Prop. 2003 Drayton Street Phone S92-W AT FIRST SIGN OF A Notice is hereby given that s meeting of the stockholders of W. P. Derrick and Company, Inc., of Little Mountain, S. C., is hereby called to be held on the 30th day of Since the Constitu-| December, 1944, at 10:00 o’clock in strictly construed, 1 the forenon, at the place of business ' of the corporation in Little Mount ain, S. C., for the purpose of con sidering a resolution that the said corporation go into liquidation, wind up its affairs and dissolve and sur render its charter for cancellation. L. C. DERRICK G. R. SHEALY, Managers and Stock holders. ’ November 29th, 1944. Cold Preparations as directed ■ It’s the Quality of leadership that makes Leaders ;ic M€aHD Ufee/t are tpe Leaders ■ I - Brrweries t'» A Van , Charlotte. < htuanoopo Norfolk, Orlando TOWN HALL at Whitmire, S. C. DECEMBER 15th and 16th, 1944 There will be representatives from the Newberry county Delinquent Tax Office at the Town Hall on above dates to receive payment of back taxes, prior to 1944. * Anyone who desires to pay and avoid further expenses in collection, can call at the Town Hall on these dates. Your cooperation is earnestly requested. T. L HILL, NEWBERRY COUNTY TAX COLLECTOR Tax Penalty Notice A penalty will be added on all taxes not paid on or before December 15 for the year 1944- A penalty of 1 per cent added December 16; January 1, 2 per cent and February 1, 10 per cent. It you wish to avoid any penalty please arrange your 1944 taxes be fore December 16, 1944- The Town of Newberry By D. L. NANCE, Clerk & Treas. Buying Poultry Will Load at NEWBERRY Thursday, Nov. 30; 10 to 12 A. M. (ON LOT BACK OF COURT HOUSE) Will Load at PROSPERITY Thursday, Nov. 30; 1 to 1:30 P. M. Will load at LITTLE MOUNTAIN Thursday, Nov. 30; 2 to 3 P. M. HENS, Colored, per pound 23c HENS, Leghorns, per pound 20c STAGS and OLD ROOSTERS, pound 15c DUCKS and GEESE, pound 15c All TURKEYS, pound 30c THIS WILL BE A WEEKLY SCHEDULE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE GREENVILLE POULTRY CO. •/