The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-11-24
The Collection Of Taxes.

We are glad to sec this matter
being agitsted at this time. Wheth'
er any nev law is needed on the
subject may be doubted but there
can be no doubt that taxes should
be collected more uniformly than
heretofore. For several years past
there has been large amount OF
land in this State that: has contri
buted nothing to the State treasu-
~. Parties in a large number OF
cases, have failed to pay taxes on
their lands; it has been bought IN
by the State, and by the State held,
lying idle, for one, two, three or
more years, and then the former
owners have been allowed, by special
Act of the Legislature, to redeem
the same by paying an amount much
less than the taxes for those years
would amount to. Instances of
this kind are known to all in every
portion of the State. The revenue
thus lost to the State would run up
to very considerable sum. The
fault has not been in the tax laws
but in the extreme tenderness OF
the Legislature towards tazde'
faulters. The law on this subject
is, that if a party does not pay his
taxes within the required time it is
put up for sale; the person who
will pay the taxes and penalties for
the least portion OF the land takes
that portion and the balance be-
longs to the defaulter who owns it.
To illustrate: A owns 500 acres OF
land; he fails to pay the taxes on
it; it is put up for sale, B says he
will pay the taxes on the whole 500
acres and take 100 acres. The 400
then belongs to A and 100 to B.
Within certain time A can redeem
the 100 acres from B by repaying
B the taxes and penalties and a
certain per cent. in addition. If,
when the 500 acres are put up, no
one offers to pay the taxes the land
is forfeited to the State, and the
defaulter cannot get it back until
he pays all the taxes that ought to
have been paid while the land was
in possession of the State. But
the Legislature steps in, after a few
years, and says, Well let this un-
fortunate defaulter have his land
again if he will pay the taxes Of the
present year and ofcourse he does
it, and thereby gets rid of several
years taxes-he saves money by de-
faulting. This extreme tenderness
on the part Of the Legislature has
offered premium to defaulters.
The remedy to this evil is in the
strict, uniform and invariable en-
forcement of the law, so that every
acre of land shall pay every dollar
of taxes assessed upon it every year,
or else become the property Of the
State; and when it does become
the property Of the State no party
should be allowed to redeem until
every dollar OF tax in default, with
the penalties and the costs, has
been paid.
These suggestions are called
forth by the communication of Mr..
T. ". Bacot, of Charleston, in this
issue.
As to Mr.. Bacot's suggestion
that the State, County and NUM-
cipal taxes should be collected by
the same officer, we think it would
tend to simplify matters if the
Legislature still proposes to be so
considerate toward defaulters, as it
would prevent the ENHANCEMENT Of
liens; but if the Legislature will
let the tax laws take their course,
and will allow 'the positive indic-
ton Of the penalty for the non-pay-
ment of the tax, then it matters
very little whether the taxes are
collected by one officer or more;
for in that case there will be no de-
faulters and consequently no liens.
"