Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

PAGE TWO THE NEWBERRY SUN, NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA THURSDAY, FERUARY 10, 1966 1218 College St., Newberry, S. C. 29108 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY O. F. Armfield, Jr., Owner Second-Class Postage Paid at Newberry, South Carolina. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.00 per year in ad vance :Six Months $1.25. IRS answers tax questions Which tax form is best for me—the 1040 or the 1040A? Can I claim my wife as a dependent if we file separate federal tax returns? How much can I deduct for gasoline tax? Answers to these and hun dreds of other questions that taxpayers have about their federal income tax will be giv en in a tax column starting this week for readers of the Sun. Questions used in the column will be those most frequently asked by taxpayers. Both the By Mary Whitman Christopher Columbus, had freckles. Lions live ten years longer than tigers, even though they’re identical under the skin. When there were a million Indians in North 'America, there were fifteen mfflion Indians ih South America. “Unusual facts t- 1 *. human .in terest — help history, and geo graphy come alive,’* believes George El rick, who has written nine ad venture-stories tb go with new juvenile map sets designed by Whitman Publishing Com pany of Racine, Wisconsin. * The General Whitman book- and-map* series is a fresh ap proach to teaching, and can be used at school or at home. Boys whose heads nod oyer a wheat’ surplus will sit up and take no tice when the* trouble-shooting General roars through a country. JCach of his adventures in book form can be followed on a full- color, up-to-date map. The globe-trotting young Gen eral travels bf jet, is a- racing car buff, and can keep his bal ance on elephant or camel. On a reconnaissance jaunt through Egypt t the young reader learns about camels. They, can go a month without water but can drink twet ty-flve gallons in three minutes. He learns about early engineering, too. The Great .Pyramid was-- built With hand labor and measured with a knotted string bu( was'Only st half-inch off perfection. •The youngster also learns to visualize as he reads, points out researcher Mrick, who pored through twenty or’ more refer ence books a day preparing the stories. The Great Wall, of China becomes properly massive to a student when he learns it would reach from New York to Omaha. History and culture are skimmed in a way to whet curiosity, and start a 'grammar-schooler leaf ing through his text books and making trips to the library. * Geography can be a* jumping class when the answers are fun to find. - questions and the answers are being prepared for the Sun by the Internal Revenue Service. “Our offices receive thous ands of questions from taxpay ers about their federal returns,” say IRS officials. “They come in personally, they write us and they call us on the phone.” “By providing answers to the most frequent questions in a widely read newspaper, we can reach more taxpayers than we can over the phone, by let ter or in person. By finding the answers to their tax questions in the newspaper, many tax payers will save themselves a phone call or a visit to our office.” The Revenue Service believes that giving clear, courteous and complete answers to taxpayer questions is one of its most im portant jobs. If we don’t pro vide the tax information that citizens need then the self-as sessment tax system may suf fer,” they said. Although federal tax law is complex, answers in the col umn will be written for the layman rather than the lawyer or accountant. Answers to tax questions will be technically ac curate but they will be put in everyday language. Questions and Answers Q—For some reason I didn’t get my 1040 forms in the mail. Maybe it was because we moved last year .Where can I get the ones I need? A.—Federal tax forms are available in many banks, post offices and from any local In ternal Revenue office. Q.—Are income tax rates lower this year? A.—The tax rates you will be paying on your 1965 income are appreciably lower than the rates in effect on 1964 income. The lower rates on 1965 in come became effective January 1, 1965. These rates range from 14 per cent compared to the 1964 range of 16 per cent to 77 per cent. Q.—I want to file early since I have a refund coming. How ever, I haven’t gotten my W-2 yet. Is there anything I can do to speed it up? A.—The law requires employ ers to issue W-2 forms by the end of January. If you haven’t received it by that date ask him about it. Remember that you must en close with your tax return copy B of a W-2 form from each of your employers if you had more than one last year. Q.—How should I make out my check for the balance I owe? A.—Checks should be made out to the Internal Revenue Service. Never send cash thru the mails. If it is lost you will have no record that the pay ment was made. Q.—On a joint return, do I have to list my wife’s social security number? She does not free China Calling SUN YAT-SEN: CHINA’S GEORGE WASHINGTON On November 12, free Chinese every where celebrate the centennial of their national father. Dr. Sun Yat-sen first made up his mind to overthrow the oppressive Manchu government in the 1880's when he was practicing medi cine in Canton. He travelled around the world to raise funds and recruit followers among tho overseas Chinese. Before the revolution of October, 1911, which toppled the Manchu Dynasty, he had directed more than ten uprisings against the Manchu rulers. On January 1,1912, in Nanking, he was inaugurated as the first presi dent of Asia’s first republic. He later resigned from the presidency to de vote his full time to working out a blueprint for the budding republic. The blueprint, which he left his countrymen on his death m 1924, was embodied in SanNin C/iu/, orthe Principles of Nationalism, Democracy and Social and Economic Well-being. These principles have guided China’s indus trialization and national reconstruction. work but received a few dol lars in dividends. A.—Your wife’s social sec urity number should be listed. If she does not have one, she should apply for a number to the Social Security Administra tion, using a Form SS-5. Even though she may not work, any separate income she receives from stock investments, savings accounts or similar sources makes it necessary for her to have a number. Banks and corporations are required to report dividend and interest payments to the In ternal Revenue Service, identi fying the payees ky both name and social security number. Q.—What state and local taxes are deductible on my fed eral tax return? A.—State and local income taxes, general sales taxes, state gasoline taxes, annual ad val orem personal property taxes, and real estate taxes levied for the general welfare are deduct ible. Deductions are generally not allowed for: automobile tags based on other than the value of your car, drivers lic enses, state and local sales taxes specifically on alcoholic beverages, tobacco and certain miscellaneous taxes. You will find further details on what is and is not deduct ible in the 1040 instruction b oklet. Q.—How can I tell whether I’m qualified to use the simple card Form 1040A? A.—The instruction booklet covers this. Generally speaking, Form 10- 40A cannot be used if: 1. deductions are itemized. 2. income is over $10,000. 3. more than $200 of income is not subject to withholding tax. 4. special tax status or tax credits are claimed. 5. a fiscal year or -accrual accounting method is used. 6. you are delinquent in filing your return. Q.—I was off the job for two months last y-^ar with a kidney infection. Is the $80 a week I received in sick pay deductible ? A.—If the $80 a week you received was 75 per cent or less of your normal salary and you were hospitalized at least one day, you may deduct $75 a week for the first 30 days of your, absence and $80 a week thereafter. If you were not hospitalized, nothing can be deducted until after a 7 day waiting period, beginning with the first day of work you miss ed. Then you may deduct $75 a week for the next 23 days, and the full $80 thereafter. However, if the $80 a week you receive was more than 75 per cent of your normal salary then the waiting period is 30 days from the first day of ab sence from work, and nothing may be deducted until that per iod is up. This will be true whether or not you are hospi talized. The maximum amount de ductible after the first 30 days is $100 per week. Q-—I have a refund coming. Can I split it up and take part in cash and part in savings bonds ? A.—No. You must elect to take your refund either in cash or bonds. However, where the bonds are elected, any excess amount above the cost of the maximum number of bonds will be refunded in cash. You may elect to have part of the over payment applied to next year’s estimated tax, and the rest ta ken either in cash or bonds. Q.—How much can I receive in dividends before they become taxable ? A.—Individuals may now re ceive up to $100 in dividends of a taxable domestic corporation before they become taxable. For married couples where both have dividends, each may re ceive up to $100 in qualified dividends tax-free. Looking A bead ...by Dr. G«org« S. 8«flson PRESIDENT—NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM SMrcy, AUDITOR’S 1966 Tax Assessment Notice I, or an authorized agent, will be at the following places on the dates given below for the purpose of taking tax returns on all personal property, boats, motors, trailers and mobile homes; also real property, new buildings, and real es tate transfers. Persons owning property in more than one district must make returns for each dist rict. All able-bodied citizens between the ages of twen ty-one and sixty are liable to $1.00 poll tax. At the Auditor’s Office to March 1st., after which a penalty of 10 per cent will be added. 12-30 Ralph B. Black, Audiior N " berry County PRICE CONTROLS AGAIN President Johnson’s efforts to put the federal hand upon business pricing without bene fit of any mandatory price con trol legislation has set the country in a pause for thought. Actually, these high-handed ac tions have be' visited in suc cession upon t i teel industry, banking, aluminum, and cop per, in a manner and under cir cumstances that cause many concerned observers to wonder if we are not developing a gov ernment managed economy whether we want it or not. The excuse of control ova* inflation hardly disguises these crude clouts against industry. Whether we need or want legal price control is a matter to be determined by Congress. As for now, anyone can see that using stockpiles of strategic materials, as the Administra tion used aluminum in Novem ber, for price controls is a dev ious and underhanded way to control the nation’s industry from the White House. This ap plication of central authority misuses 'the idea of stockpiling strategic materials. The pur pose of Congress in accumulat ing some $9 billion of com modities was to ease shortages and protect the nation in em ergencies. Double Standards The President, however, is reported to have no qualms, a- bout selling from those stock piles for the purpose of de pressing prices, even though the law states that stockpiled ma terials must be sold at current market prices. Not only would the government sell 200,000 tons of aluminum in the open market in 1966, it would dump 100,000 tons immediately. This brought the aluminum indus try to its knees and it rescind ed its half-cent a pound in crease, which still would have been lower than the 1960 price of aluminum ingots. Top alum inum executives who supported LBJ in 1964 are said to be won dering about the future of private enterprise. They are quick to note* that union wage increases this Tear, although well above the govern- ment ‘guideline’ levels,’’brought no squawks to labor about holding the line against infla tion. Business spokesmen view this as a double standard in the attitude of government and suspect that government, ignor ing its 30-year spree of deficit spending as inflation’s chief source, is seeking to saddle the blame on business. Some Things Are Obvious Mr. Johnson, when these things were happening in Nov ember, stayed out of sight and made no statements, apparent ly fearing the ‘anti-business’ label his predecessor got in a crack-down on steel. Behind the scenes, however, he was in close contact with economic ad visors who gave him the ad vice he wanted and with front men like Defense Secretary McNamara, who know how to be tough and make the threats stick even without references to defense contracts. The lesson was brought home that there’s no profit in saying nay to LBJ. Politically, with some seg ments of the public, it is heroic to buck big business, and the Administration has made the most of this. Even before the aluminum price matter was well heated, our ADA-oriented Vice President was warning the public of inflation from prices ( . . . “if a few seek profit at the expense of the many, if a few seek special consideration to themselves without regard to the many”). Senator Syming ton referred to the fact that thousands “who don’t want to pay for aluminum” have the producers of aluminum out numbered. Political Heroism We don’t believe in this kind of bullying of American in dustry, but what is more im portant we don’t believe in these trends toward govern ment assuming the management and control of private industry. If Mr. Johnson wants to imi tate the Kennedy histrionics and become “sputtering mad” (as was reported) when price increases are announced per haps he should be allowed this kind of political ham. But we will not buy the image he wish es to create in fighting infla tion, as long as his Administra tion persists in its free-wheel ing ,easy-money policies of def icit spending. When the government at tempts to halt wage increases with the same kind of firmness with which it approaches price increases, when he govern ment shows that ual and just (Continued o'’ page 8) SPECTATOR Have you heard of any order to the State of New York? New York, with possibility 20 million people has more foreign born people than South Caro lina has Colored people. But so far as I have heard neither New York nor Illinois has come under Federal injunction. What is that? Does anyone imagine that the foreign-born element of the Northern States receives better treatment than our col ored people of the South. I recall that I entered a New York city subway train some years ago and two White men looked up and laughed. Then one said, “Friend, excuse me. but we had a wager that no native born American would come into this car during the forty blocks of our trip; and now you’ve come aboard and I lose my dollar.” I attended classes of a Uni versity in New York and every day rode from 186th street to Broad street, possibly 10 miles, that was every morning and I returned every night. At that happy period there was no racial clash; now, unfor tunately the colored people have champions who seem determin ed to provike trouble. I recently spent some time trying to think of the muddled condiiton which calls' forth an order from a Federal Court to the State Government of South Carolina relative to the election of representatives (and Sena tors) in our General Assembly. To be perfectly frank, I can’t see why the Federal Gov ernment intervenes in our choice or number of members of the General Assembly. The Constitution of the Unit ed States, even the amend ments, is nothing new. All that we find in the Constitution is hoary with age, but it has just come to light and life. According to time-honored interpretations the States, in their Sovereign character, are not amenable to Federal Courts. On that Calhoun and Webster would have agreed, I think. But the intervention of the Federal Government is due in part to our begging for Federal funds. We ourselves broke down the barrier of separation, as defin ed in the Constitution, and now our cities, States, Counties, all beg for Federal funds. We our Sovereignty/ over board and now we are caught by the tentacles of Federal par ticipation at our invitation. Alas and Alack! Shall we ever resume our status as sovereign states? I recall that some Southerner, speaking in Congress, stated that the States might act in a given case if the Federal Gov ernment did not prempt the field. That was very poor Con stitutional law: the Federal Government has no constitu tional warrant for acting within a state except for purely Feder al functions. And so we have drifted. Re cently I spent several hours re freshing my memory of the Constitution and in many cases the Constitutional provision would add “And the Congress may'by Act regulate, etc.” Now it is not the Congress at the moment: it is the Execu- ive power, along with the Courts • which in this late day intervene in matters of the state. Industrial growth in South Carolina’s Midlands and Law Country leaped ahead at a rec ord rate during 1965, accord ing to a report released by South Carolina Electric and Gas Company. The Columbia-based utility, reporting on its 23-county ser vice area, said that announced investments in new and expand ed industries totaled $131,463,- 000. The figure was more than twice the amount announced last year for the area, once pre dominantly agricultural but now experiencing rapid transi tion into an industrial environ ment. SCE&G is one of three electric utilities serving South Carolina and the only one based in the state. Duke Power Company of Charlotte serves the Piedmont, and Carolina Power and Light Company of Raleigh serves the Pee Dee. The SCE&G area, much of it sparsely populated and until recent years considered unlike ly for industrial location, cov ers an area roughly bordered by Aiken, Columbia, Charleston and Georgia. Most of the 1965 industrali- zation took place in the areas of Columbia and Charleston, the two major population con centrations in the SCE&G sec tion. This is also a record year of industrialization for the whole state of South Carolina, which has announced development fi gures of $588 million, more than twice the $290 million figure re ported for 1964. As much as 75 per cent of the tate’s development was attrib uted to textile-oriented, syn thetic fiber plants ($320 mil lion) and the textile industry it self ($111 million). The SCE&G report indicated, however, that economic growth in the Midlands and Low Coun try area was more diversified. Synthetic fibers occupied 43 per cent of the SCE&G figure, and textiles 18 per cent, making the combined industries account for 61 percent of the total. Biggest announcement of the year in the SCE&G area was that of Eastman Kodak, which capped seven years’ negotia tions with the announcement it would build a major fiber-pro ducing plant at its site in Lex ington and Calhoun counties, 10 miles from Columbia. The plant is conservatively estimated to cost $50 million. Other.new plants for the Co lumbia area included Tamper Inc., U. C. Gypsum and Heplon. Plant expansions in the area were annbnced by Burlington Industries at Batesbufg, J. B. Martin at Leesville, U. S. Rub ber at Winnsboro, - Glass master at Lexington, Westinghouse Air Brake at Batesburg and Cana da Dry Bottling at Columbia. In the Charleston area, major announcements were made for plant expansions by West Vir ginia Pulp and Paper Company and Lockheed Aircraft. Other major new plants were REVCO at Williston, Deering- Milliken at Saluda, Graniteville at Graniteville, Santee Portland Cement at Holly Hill, Grinnel Inc., at Beaufort and Conoflow Corp., at St. George. Owens- Corning Fiberblass announced an expansion of its Aiken plant. In all, $86.5 million in new plants was disclosed during 1965, and $4 million in expand ed plants was disclosed. The breakdown by industry is as follows: chemical (includ ing syntheic fiber processes) 43 per cent; textiles 18 per cent; sand, clay and glass 17 per cent; metal working 12 per cent; wood, pulp and paper, sev en percent; plastics 1.5 percent, and miscellaneous 1.5 per cent. In announcing the 1965 fig ures, SCE&G vice president for Industrial Development R. Hun ter Kennedy said, ‘Prospects are most favorable for continuing growth in 1966. Interest has been shown in the area by quite a variety of i industry.' He noted that the area’s di versity avoids the economic danger of building up too much concentration in one field, and then having something happen to this particular type of busi ness. ‘Back in 1924 the South Caro lina Electric and Gas Company began construction on Parr Steam Electric Generating Plant—the first steam electric generating plant in the South ern States to employ pulverized fuel firing. It was also the South’s first plant equipped with equipment which utilized heat that otherwise would be wasted. Thirty-five years later,, in 1959, plans were made with power companies in Virginia and the Carolinas for another first at Parr—to make it the first nuclear electric generating plant in the southeast. In May' 1964 it went into commercial operation. In September of 1965 Parr attained full design power —this last fiscal yeat it produc ed over 71 million kilowatt hours of electricity. But Pjyr iff primarily an ex perimentaf plant ... it also serves as a training station of personnel in opera tion of nuclear reactors. Thw has involved not only training on the supervisory level, but a pilot program was inaugurated in which high school graduates with limited technical education have been trained and licensed as reactor operators. INSURED fta«oo SAVE by the 10th EARN front the 1st All New Savings Accounts and Additions to present Savings Accounts received by Feb ruary 10th will earn Dividends from February 1st i Each Account is Insured to $10,000.00 by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corpora tion, Washington, D. C. . Anticipated Dividend Rate 41-4% on Sav ings, compounded Semi-Annually. BRANCH OFFICE—BATESBURG, S, C. Avi/fos and Loan Association DIRECTORS JOHN F. CLARKSON M. O. SUMMER W. C. HUFFMAN J. K WILLINGHAM E. B. PURCELL G. K. DOMINICK