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TAX CORNER | j The only chance for a fair and per maheat solution of the tax muddle in wt^ch South Carolina is now flounder >v is honest publicity and unselfish / taking;. The material both for the ; honest publicity and unselfish think ing is already available. It consists of 3 ^Report of the Joint Special Com mittee on .Revenue and Taxation sub E?itted to the regular ession of the ^Qeneral Assembly of 1921. The report Iwas-prepared by a joint special com ifiitte? made up of J. H. Marion, chair rn?n;" Niels Christensen; Joseph A. Berry*; L..D. Lide; .1. B. Atkinson; - Buckingham. ?i^Phe. report is admirable beyond preise,?comprehensive, clean cut, c?Bstructrve, and convincing. v "Jf:every person of voting age in South.Carolina could be persuaded to study it from cover to cover, our tax troubles would be over. ^-The report contains 17S pages, in cluding the Appendix. Mr. J. H. Ma rled was requested by the editor to summarize in a column its quintes sence. He very kindly consented. His aiSvicie follows: The First Step. -* While willing to admit that the Re port Of the Joint Special Committee On Revenue and Taxation, submitted to the last General Assembly, is pro . iix"' and loose-jointed, I am not quite "billing to concede that it can be ade quately summarized in a column arti ci*fbr the Tax Corner. ? The. report as a whole is an at tempt to develop a more or less logical argument in support of the Commit tee'* main conclusion?that the first essential to sound tax reform in South Carolina is the abolition of the "gen *fal property tax" system prescribed - to?the constitution. The law of our present. system is the rigid constitu . tibnal requirement that all property of ^very- character shall be assessed factual value and taxed at a "uni &>rrmand equal rate." The facts are? universal .undervaluation, consequent inequality of burden as between indi viduals and taxing districts, exorbi tantly high tax rates, consequent escape from taxation of a large pro portion of taxable property, and in idEquate revenues. We are assessing &fcd collecting taxes outside the law, operating the most important depart ment -of government as an outlaw -business. - <rV$Sfcat. is -the remedy? Is it -to be found -ih the much vaunted prescrip Jto??~"drastjk: reduction of appropria fiotis5*?- No?-for reasons which are '?ftjgfF^e*! in *, our report and which f?t*?4aeen trenchantly stated by you in the- Corner. Does the remedy lie 5^'th^he.tter. administration which you ?s^^w-ben you say, "We need a e> muf?rni valuation of property ^So^th-Carolina? No?for reasons jo io-the heart of the proolem ^.Which^we have tried to set forth our'report: Higher valuation 'i^^l^tter.administra^.on all along f&*Sij^simpry '.mean a nearer ap Pcach in practice to what o\tr censti ttfrtnft^.anii statutory law now re assessmen of all property *f>ite-'act?al or true value for taxation it a? uniform rate.- If that is the solu B6?^ecould and should foUow Nonh Carolina's example and provide by te^Jsl?noh - the special machinery re quired-to put all taxable property on the books at 1#0 cents on the dollar r. within 12. months' time. It is not the iblution, for the reason, that after putting all property on the rolls at 100 cents on the dollar we would still have tir ?d -valorem tax rate higher than the property now escaping taxation (consisting largely of so-called intan gible property) can or will stand. The owner-Of intangibles doesn't have to rtahd a tax rate that takes an undue proportion of the income from his Ofth and securities. He can conceal his cash or invest it otherwise and efcewhere, or shift his securities, or caU his loans, and thereby disrupt the industries of the commonwealth. If, I therefore, the classes of property now escaping taxation a ad which- our law , positively requires shall be taxed at the same rate as all other property lirould not be put upon the tax books %) imd.teept there at any rate we could hope for a result of a full and true valuation, surely there is something wrong with the theory of our law. Aside from the reason of the thing, that theory is unsound because it is f' impracticable. It is impracticable be cause the Industrial health andjievel epmer.t of a State demand and force recognition in practical tax adminis tration of the different economic char acteristics of different classes or prop erty. Witness the outlaw classifica tion which now permits the escape of at least $300,G00,000,000 of taxable in tangible property in this State. . .But the total loss of revenue from that class of property is not the only or.the worst evil entailed . When you make fish of one and fowl of an other under a law which forbids any distinctJcn, the entire administration of the general property tax is de moralized and the- net result is the chaos and burdensome inequality we have.today. "~he higher uniform val uation of property, with no increase in. public expenditure, would give a nominally lower tax rate. But it would lower no man's taxes. If expenditures were increased, whatever the rate of mill levy, abvious the higher valua tion would jpt prevent an increase of taxes actually paid by property own-> er?Sri exact proportion to the increase; in expenditures. Higher valuation will uelther palliate nor cure the disease. 'If no real relief is to be had through befter administration, is it to be found! izj providing additional revenue from other modes of taxation, such as the1 income, tax, the business license tax. \ the Inheritance tax, etc.? That in-| QUiry is pursued and various forms) Of taxation examined and discussed) in our report. The commission is reached that the general property tax! requirements and limitations of the! constitution would seriously interfere With the successful administration of other available methods of taxation, except in the case af the inheritance tax. -Certainly, handicapped as we are! by present constitutional restrictions. W* c*auot -reasonably expect to pro- j HERE'S THE NEWS Comprising About 150 Silk Dresses, The Very Last Word in Styles. The Quality Like You Expect From THIS Store, Dresses of Canton Crepe, Taffeta, Crepe Back Satins, Crepe de Chines, Etc., Will Be Grouped in 2 Lots. Our Entire Stock of Silk Dresses, Together With Pur hases Just Made. CJ LOT $35*00, $32.50, $30.00, $27.50, $25.00 SILK DRESSES Your Choice For LOT 2 $65.00, $62.50, $60.00, $55.00, $5G.00, $45.00, $40.00 SILK DRESSES Your Choice For SALE LASTS WEEK Dresses By "Peggy Paige" "Co Ed" "Essanelle" and All Other High Class Lines. Mostly one of a Kind. ACT QUICKLY! NO APPROVALS! NO EXCHANGES! NOCHARGES! Ali Hat? Then Get a Hat to Match Dress?Select from Our Entire Stock?"Gage", "Fiske" Etc "/ and PAY JUST 1-2 PRICES. THEY WILL MOVE, SO BE PROMPT SCHWARTZ BROTHER Price All Hats Vi Price vide sufficient revenues from other sources ever to reduce the ad valorem levy to a point that wil admit of the practical administration of the '?gen eral property tax" within the law. Let us first take down the black flag! As the first step toward sane reform [and permanent relief we should I change the law*by amending the con j stitution. * ' J. H. Marion. Xorth Carolina's Solution. Whenever a difficulty is to be over come or problem solved, ir is well to see what others have done under simi lar circumstances. Xorth Carolina has recently revised her whole tax system, and in so doing faced most of the ob stacles which now eon front South Carolina. By request of the University Weekly News, M,r. A. H. Seats, formerly of South Carolina, now of Raleigh. X. C. has sketched its essentials of the Xorth Carolina plan. A couple of years ago Xorth Caro lina decided that the property in that State should go on the tax books at its true value. Like the rest of the Southern States valuable farm lands were returned at about one-tenth their value and the same applied to personal property. There was in operation in Xorth Carolina about the same tax machinery as there is in South Caro lina. Property was returned to the county auditor, passd on by the coun ty assessors and finally fixed by the board of equalization. There was a gentlemen's agreement that no prop erty should be returned at marc than fifty per cent, o* its value, despite the law and constitution, uut the avetage j was far below that figure. in Xorth Carolina the law was changed in many respects, th - idea being to remove the tax fixing board as far from direct voting influence as possible. It has been partially suc cessful, but the values placed on farm lands has raised an awful howl and the last General Assembly backed wa ter a little, providing for a reduction to be made by the various county boards where it was though that val ues were too high und were in Hue with the inflated price of everything else eighteen months ago. Xorth Carloina's idea is an excellent one, however, something like the heau [ line William Banks placed over an [ article on perpetual motion. "A Good Thingif it' Works." Briefly the tax ing of all property in the State is in the hands of a board consisting of a Commissioner of Revenue, the chair man of the Corporation Commission and the Attorney General. There is no State levy on real estate. The expenses of the State and all of tin; educational, charitable and penal in stitutions under State control are met by an income tax. an inheritance tax a license tax on corpoi*ations and a j franchise tax. These taxes bring in I enough income to meet all expenses' of the State government. This board.! however, passes on al Ireal and per-! sonal property returns as made in the ! various towns, cities and counties and as these units levy real and personal taxes one can readily see why a howl ! went up when the assessment was! boosted. The law provides that in the month of May there shall be appointed if: : each county a number of tax listers wh?? shall list all real and personal property. The tax listers shall in each case consider each piece of property j its location, condition of the soil, etc.. and the oath signed by the tax- I payer certainly goes into details. Thej returns then go before a county board' and finally reach the State board for review. There is provision for ap- '? peal should a taxpayer think tin- as sessment too high and provision U,v\ punishment for evading or violating any section of the tax law. The lea-1 ture of the entire law, how< ver. is thai '? section which gives tin- State board'' power over the various local boards and provides for general supervision of all acts by the local boa ids. This 1 section, if properly carried out and the returns cheeked closely, nullifies any influence corporations or individ uals might bring on local boards in an endeavor to-evade or lighten an assess ment. This is the drawback in the proper enforcement of the tax laws in South Carolina at present. Those re sponsible for the present law in North Carolina hoid that if the idea is car ried out honestly and fearlessly taxes will be lower in every county, town and city, that the income from taxes will be greater , and that there will be no inequalities." And that's true. A H. Seats. How Long? In two casual conversations be tween a low countryman .Did two up country men tliis week the latter in troduced the subject ot South Caro lina Tax assessments. They are stirred up because of their inequali ties. One told of a piece of property that lie knew of in Iiis city that has been returned lor taxation for a num ber of years at less than $10,000. Re cently a part has been sold for $i?0. 000, and the balance is held to l>< worth $100.o0n. The man said. "What encouragement is that to a man who wants to pay a fair share of the taxes?"' The other said that a ?35.0a0 loan was recently applied for o;: :i piece of city property, which is held i<> be worth ?100,000. When tax books were referred to it was found that the assessment was for >2,000. 1; seems that some years ago the iargc property of which this pio< e was then a part, began to be cut up and sold. Each time a parcel was sold the price, it sold for was deducted from the assessment on tin- tax book:-. Thai explanation is no justification, ol course, but it illustrates a custom that is said to be somewhat go no raj all over the state. Until the archaic, unjust, unscien tific system of taxation that we tol erate is rooted up and cast out of our constitution and statute law we will be crippled in all our private busi ness and in our government. North Carolina, with just such a problem as ours, has solved a large part of it. She is now starting on a period of development tha! makes us gasp. We arc to be left behind in the development of our resources., both private and public, if we do nor cure this fundamental difficulty. How long are we to sit simply in the face 01 this condition? Every citizen should del armine whether he personally wan:-- a change. If he does, he should tell the representatives in the legislature that he does. The legislature has be fore it a clear statement of a road to follow that will lead us out. It i ?? the report of its own committee written by Senator Marion.?Niels Christensen, in The Beaufort <r.i zette. SENATE PASSES TARIFF BILL Eleven Democrats Vole With Republicans on Final Roll Call Washington, May 11.?The senate late today passed tic emergency tar iff and anti-dumping bill, retaining all amendments recommended by the finance committee, but rejecting those individually proposed. The vote was >',:[ to 2S. Seven Democratic senators, Rrous sard. Louisiana; .loins. New Mexico; Kendl Ick, Wyoming: Myers. Mon tana: Pittman. Nevada: Ransdelb Louisiana and Sliv'ppard. Texas, voted with tie* Republicans mi passing tic bill. Another Democrat, Asburs!. Arizona. who was absent was an nounced as a supporter. Only one Republican. Senator Moses of New Hampshire, voted against the bill. As; passed by the senate the meas ure differs radically from the form ? I in which it was passed by the house ['early in the extra Session and now [goes to conference. Only the tariff ' features of the bill were kept intact, the anti-dumping arid currency re j valuation sections being entirely re Iwritten and the provision added for ! continuation of the war time re 1st riet ions on imported dyestuffs. Ac- j tion by the senate came at the end of five hours of driving attack by [Democratic ieaders. Tin- latter, how- i ever, were not alone in their attempts ! t<? amend the measure for sew:-:;! j Republicans made efforts to broaden i ? its scope only to see their amend-', j .re-nts meet the same fate as- those ? j offered from the minority side of the I.Chamber. .Ail were swept aside by [-practically the same vote, j Late in the day Democrats concen trated on the committee addition i" ith?? bill providing for continued fed jeral control of dye importations.; Senators charged frequently that the: amendment which was submitted to the committee by Senator Knox, Re IpubJiean. Pennsylvania, would cro-j ,'ate a. monopolistic control of the dye ! i industry and turn over tin- consumers : i to * tho wishes and will of on.- man." j .\ roll call left it as a part of the j j bill by the vote ol '11 to 25. ! Senator King. Democrat, Utah, was ? not content, however, and made j 'another effort to strike out the dye I ! provision just prior to the vote on: j passage. That failed als... j The I'tah senator, after passage of I the measure, announced he would offer q resolution in the senate soon to investigate the monopoly which he said existed and had now been permanently intrenched by the sen ate action. There were successive attempts by some of the Democrats who favored he measure t?. increase rates on par ticular commodities. Senator Ash urst. Democrat. Arizona, made a -par ticularly hard fight to raise the rate on long staple cotton from 7 cents as lixed in the bill to 2o cents. His amendment was rejected 74 to 7. Senator Jones. Democrat, New Mexico, sought to have the bill in clude hides within the scope of its protection and drew forth the: largest vote favoring the change j that was recorded on any amendment, j It was defeated, however, -)C> to 49; The i>i!) as passed b..r the senate provides the following commodity rat? s of duty: Wheat. :;." cents per bush'-!: wheat j fiour ;.;. ] semolina. 20 per cent, ad ; valorem: Rax seed. 20 cents per bush-j el; ecru or maize; 13 eer^cs per bush-j el: beans. 2 cents per pound; pea nuts. :; cents per pound; potatoes, 2"> 'its ner bushel; onions, 30 cents per bushel: rice, cleaned. 2 cents per pound with graduated lower rates for uncleaned or unmilled rice; pea nut oil, 2*> e-aits per gallon: cotton seed, cm oanut and soya bean oils. 20 cents per gallon; cattle 20 per <? nt. ad valorem; sheep, one year oid I or over, $2 per head, Under one year, I $1 per head; long ' staple cotton j (i inches) 7 cents per pound; jcoton manufactures 7 cents a pound; wrapper and filler tobacco, mixed/ j when the product of two or more [countries, unstemnrev, $2.35 per ; pound, stemmed, $3 p?- pound; other kinds ot filler tobacc*>, unstemnied, : cents per pound; stemmed, 50 i nts per pound. I The following were selected to rep j resent the senate in conference with j 1 he house: Chairman Penrose of the i finance committee and Senators Mc Cumber? Xorth Dakota, and? Smoot, ! I'tab.. Republicans, and Simmons, ! Xorth Carolina, and Williams, Mis sissippi. Democrats! It was deemed. unlikely that attempts to iron out i the differences* betwetvn-^the senate and house would begin before Fri- ? ; day. A Detroit girl recen "y shot another - girl. Xow all the ou|-r Detroit wo men are wondering may she did it, since there are so man* men who have not as yet been shot, er shot at.? / Johnstown Democrat. And now when flurope hears a "3 courier -crying "on he king's busi- g ness", it knows he is pleaded for a 5 pawn shop.?Hartford Times. J Find Another Leg ? Headline. \ The boarding missus's explorations M are rewarded.?Buffalo Express. . 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