The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-01-14

| and the amount Of appropriations
made by the Legislature. The only way
to reduce taxation is to reduce the ap-
| preparation. or course, the school tax
| fixed in the Constitution would real
lZe more Income If assessments were
raised, but that would be no disadvan-
| tagc, for scarcely any one would object
| to an increase in this fund.
Under the present system the re-
| turns arc made to the County
! Auditor. There is a Township
! Board OF Assessors, which meets
ut the Court House after the Auditor
has taken tho returns, ah>. undertakes
to go over all OF them in one or two
| days. Then there is a County Board
OF Equalization, which also meets at
the Court House and goes over the re-
turns for the entire County in ono or
| two days. All OF this is done in SomC-
| what OF DcrfUnctocy manner and ;,c-
complishcs little or nothing in secur-
| ing an equitable assessment Of prop
| erty. There are Counties in the State
| IN which some OF the land is assessed
at onc-third or one-half its actual val
| uc, while other land is assessed ut it's
real value. In fact, there may be two
adjoining plantations, tho one worth
| twice as much as the other, and yet
| under our system each is assessed for
| taxation at the same price per acre. In
| many cases 1t is the rule to assess live
stock at so much per head, regardless
| OF the fact that one horse may bc
worth two or three times what another
is, even in the same County. And yet
this ia what Township Boards Of AS
| SCISSORS and the County Board Of
Equalization understands as oQualizing
| TOW W; ,;,>l,
Is not the purpose for which these
Boards are created. And yet 1t is I'M
possible for a Township Board to meet
and spend only one day going over the
returns that have been made and get
them eQualized. II Is also as impracti-
| cable for Il County Board OF EQualixa-
| ton to meet and in one or two days
| cqualiZo the assessments upon all the
| property in tho County. Much more
could be accomplished if the law were
| amended so rs to require that the
County Auditor shall, after notice in
the public prints, take returns in each
Township, and shall not take these re-
| turns except whilc present In the
Township. In case any taxpayer re-
fuses Or fails to make return willie
the Auditor Is present in the Town
ship, the Auditor and the Township
Board shall be required to assess such
property, and notify the owner OF tho
valuation placed upon his property.
That there shall be appointed Town
ship Board OF Assessors, consisting Of
three discreet frceholdcrs. residents
| Of the Township, who shall meet with
the Auditor to receive the returns and
assess the property. That this Board
shall be appointed by the County Audi
tor and receive compensation for it's
service. That all returns shall be made
In public In the presence Of the Auditor
and tho Township Board, and that the
owner or the property shall be required
to answer the questions as now pro-
yided by law, and make affidavit as TO
the correctness of his answer. If the
Township Board thinks the return IL
too high or too low it shall be It's du-
ty, in the presence Of the owner OF the
property and the Auditor, to raise or
lower the return in order to reach the
true market value Of the property. The
Chairman OF these Township Boards
shall constitute the County Board Of
Equalization, and this Board shall
meet at the Court House and 60 over
the returns for the County with the
County Auditor and hear complaints
and appeals, their decision to be sub
JCII w hppSbl W lilc oldlc ioDdTN L he
Auditor shall not be permitted to go
into a primary, but shall be appointed
by the Governor, as provided by law,
so as to be as free and Independent as
1t Is possible. In this way I believe
much will be gained toward having all
property assessed cquitably. The hon
est taxpayer would much prefer to re-
turn his property at its true value, it
by doing so he would bear no more
than his just portion OF the burden,
and the man who desires to evado
should be made to bear his part of tho
burden by having his property return
ed at it's true value.
There Is no question that SO much
demands your earnest, your careful,
your thoughtful and your diligent
consideration, and that so much con-
Germs every citizen Of the common
wealth as this question Of taxation. 1t
has received the attention Of every
Legislator who has had the interests of
his people Mt heart since taxes have
been levied anu government organized,
and yet there Is no subject in which
there Is more room for reform than
that OF equaliZing taxation and placing
upon the books for taxation chat prop
erty which Is now evading The officers
Of the law.
There has been gratifying increase
in the taxable property during the year
just closed. In fact, the increase is
greater than for any one year for sew
cral years past. This, Of course, has
made an increase in the amount of
taxes collected, but your appropria-
tlons were larger at the last session
than the year before, and but for the
increase in taxable values there would
have been deficit and the appropria-
| ~ hnn .