The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1891-05-12
THE REPAY lint OF THE 4 s..
DIRE EsT TAXES TO THE ETFI-
ZESs OF aOErH CARO-.
LIsA

Mr. Z II BCsBEE, who has by ap
pninFme1t Of tEe Governor, hal charge
Of all the matters connected with The
re paym Mt Of tie direct taxes u The
| people of North Carolina, fJrni, hes The
CHRONICLE ..ith tie fo.leWlog interest
j. < statement relative D the tax and the
an"uut- wnich each conny pad. Mr.
BIZ BEE writes:
/ [ pom tLo passage Of the act provld
| inS r. -n- r. payment Of The direct laGC
- aE 1ilec ed from the CIR Z ens Of North
A2rollna ii 1865 aud le66 by Tie UnUe1
; Us to The persons from whom tue
tsx..,, >-~-Ie colt a. resolution was
,nnflv >~4~Syd ~ the general ASS N
biy II ESrtf> aSouna a,cep ing the
ms OF fAe ac\of Congrt -. Al act
sas a 20 . -sed oNthe General As EN-
ny PROV ing tor The c0fslag Of the re
e DIS IL Wa.iiinG sau aud ci1r,ctlu9 tae
/. t s9t~y sf-ts = bc AIKEN to dIatrl--l e
tar tuuu. -
IL 1885 : con mission y + app0ia ei
10y he > cretar, Of the treasaty to
make III Invest CATION injo the direct
ak accounts for she l'urpos1 Of OBJ n
:"g an early aaJustment thereof, x
ihis committee made a full report.
which mas been tie basis Of the action
pf Congress ADD OF the recommends iDu
Of the FIRST Com ptroller, AMI the avcu-
rdcy of the figures gwen by this c3m-
% ission had lever been called into ones
ion. ReIy!ng upon the figures report
ed by this crmmi>s on. North Caro ina
was thought 80 b eutitled 10 1877 452 6l.
When the claim of the State was pre-
s"nted to the accounting officers OF the
Tieasury all the papers and books were
IN the hands Of the United States au
thorltieS, and the al Justment Was neces
sarily made upon the basis of the rep ort
submitted Dy their own accounting Cfh
GERS There Was 40 reason no doubt Its
approximate accuracy and IN fact no
way of questionIug 1t except by thor
ough examination which would nave en-
tailed great delay. | succeeded in OBJ
tanning a small item of 1888 81 arising
from an excess of the stubs OF the tax
Ieceip-s over the amount shown by the
assessment books, aud this made total
payment OF 1877, S36 43 which has been
paid to the State.
The report of this Commissssion con
tanned an item Of $26, PIT, ,7S Of penalties
collected. Relying upon the opinion of
Judge Durham, d former First Coup
miitee to Congress as declarative OF the
intention OF Congress, and upon the
language of the act itself which provid
ed for the re payment only of the taxes
and not of the penalties, the FIRST
Comptroller declined TO repay lhis
amount and after consultation with the
u ,vernor we yielded to tb,s c0nsldera
tion. The books were then turned over
to zee and | made careful examination
of them IN decai,. | found that the
amount alleged TO have been c1liecte as
penalties had no: in fact baeu c1i,tcged
but that it had only been assessed
in four couuties, no dollar Of it
paid, and the amount passed
over to the column Ct uacoltcted
taxes. I found that the amount OF taxes
actually collected was $404 054 II In
mediate demand mas oetn mad for t',e
payment of this baldGce, an.i Il e acc ,u-t
is now peudiue before the Fs!th b Auditor.
| feel co Ii lent that this balance viii D.
collected The error has been trrced
IA discovered. I consisted III rep .r5-
Tag as penalties eoil-cted' the am ,1nf
that should have been penalties as
sessed" | will use all pos- ,ble urgency
in collecting this balance Until it shall
have been collected 1t will be impossible
for the State to pay out the full amount
to any tax payers, because we bave now
only 1917, ,S36 with which TO pay S404 ,O54
The copying of The returns has nearly
been completed, and We b ave every rea-
son to think that the payments to the
parties entitled can begin early in June,
as 1t first contemplated