The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-02-21
Taxation in South Carolina.

! Taxation in South Carolina
Our Columbia contemporaries, the
Union and Phenin, have been discuss
ing the subject Of taxation in South
tCarolina, as compared with other States
The Union attempts to show that the
farmers of this State have no reason tt
complain of taxation, as their burdens
Iare lighter than those imposed upon tht
flourishing dairy and grain farms of the
North; and urges upon the Genera
Assembly, to raise promptly all sup
plies sufficient to discharge tour JUS
fdebts and obligations" Says he:
"The dairy farms of New York an6
several other States are worth in the
market from fifteen to fifty dollars ar
acre. The average is about thirty-five
tdollars, while the annual product ii
tabout twenty per cent. of this value, OF
(about seven dollars AN acre. The annual
product of grain farms Is more say ar
average of twenty. dollars an acre for al
under cultivation, while such lands are
valued at an average of, forty-hve dollars
| per ecre for whole farms.
IAN assessment of ten mills on such 8
valuation will give tax on dairy farmt
| of thirty-five cents on every seven dol.
lars income, and on grain farms forty
five cents on every twenty dollars In:
come. Aud this tax must be increased
about one-third for nop-productive
lands"
"a like calculation for the cotton
farms of this State shows the following
advantage for the Taxpayers:
eff we put the average production OF
the short staple at the very low estimate
lof one-third of bale Of $50 pounds
| per acre, the annual production at tif-
teen cents is $3.50; while the average
market value of such lands will not ex-
ceed $40 per acre. An assessment OF
ten mills on this valuation will give q
tax Of ten cents on every s22. 2.5Oincome." "
To this the Pheni1 makes the follow
ing effective rejoinder.
"The average yield Of cotton on the
frat class farms in the State is about as
| he statcs-one-third of q bale to the
acre-but general average Of all class
es, good, bad and Indifferent, will not
exceed q bale. So much for that. There
is, however, one fact which the Union
man has overlooked, or Intentionally
suppressed, that of itself turns the
tables upon him completely. In New
York and other f1ourishipg States in the
North, almost every acre of ground is
made productive. In South Carolina,
not more than one-fifth of our area is
under cultivation, and of this one half
Is devoted to corn, potatoes and small
grain, which yield, we may say, no net
income whatever, so that it falls out
that one acre of cotton has to pay for
nine acres of non-productive land.
Taking the Uaion's valuation of $40
per acre, there would be 500 to be taxed;
and at ten mills on the dollar, there
would consequently be 81 Of taxes to be
paid on $3.50 of income, instead Of
10 cents as the Union figures itout."
But the Phunir further shows that the
$3.50 per. acre Is gross income, from
which is to be deducted the cost of pro-
duction which exceeds the North i'm
mensely. It says:
"a good laborer demands here $3.50.
allowing that he provides his own food,
clothing, &c. He will tend on an
average say twelve acres of land, which
was the estimate in slavery times, and
he works not 90 we'll now. This would
give us $3.50 for labor. only. Put ferti-
lizers say at S. per acre, or about $50
pounds of goou commercial manure /;
add to this 81 for use of mule, and we
have $3.50 of the $3.50 already exhaust
ed, and no account taken of the wear
and tear of wagons, plows, farming
utensils, &c. Now when you put on the
tax of two or three dollars, as the Union
at the close of its article suggests as not
unreasonable, the poor farmer comes out
below zero. The fact of the business is,
that there is no money in farming in
South Carolina with the present system
Of labor, except tunder the most advan-
tageous circumstances. Six years ex-
pertinent has demonstrated that propo-
sition beyond all question; for there are
not to-day one-fourth of the planters who
are not in worse condition, pecuniarily
than they were at tho beginning of the
year 1885," g..
Under the most favorable circumstan-
ces there is little money in farming, but
when you add the enormous burdens of
taxation, based upon an exorbitant
valuation Of the. property and imposed
too on unproductive capital, as is the
case with the great body of our lands, IT
amounts virtually to confiscation.