The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1902-11-21
EXTENSION or
TIME FOR TAXES.

The question of having the time
for the payment Of taxes extended is
already agitatcd. AS heretofore we are
not in favor Of any extension CT the
time for more than one reason. Ia
the first rlacc We DO not believe the
end aimed at by those in favor Of The
extension, is accomplished, viz: the
allowing of those IN Strengthened cir
cumstauces, or in other words the
poor people, longer time in which
to get their money for taxes together,
from our observation, we are forced
to the conclusion, that these people
the poor people-are the ones ~ho
do not get the advantage Of tax ez-
tension. Why? Because the matter
of extending the time for the pay
ment of taxes comes UP annually and
apparently trcmblcs in the balances,
no one knowing which way the bel
ances will tip, thus keeping all in
suspense until very near the time
limit. Consequently the people IN
moderate circumstances, AMI TIE
poorer people, who have managed to
get up their tax money, are air@il to
take the risk, and so and pay their
taxes, fearing they might spend some
of the money and the taxes might
NOT not boe bjae- extended aaa consequently
they would be in the soup with a
penalty, and possibly an execution
hanging over them, they therefore
usually pay up and get it off their
minds, though no doubt they often
have to make sacrifices to do so.
Then who does the extension OF
time benefit? 1t benefits the rich
man, the man Of aiiluence and capi,
tai. He has his money at work for
him, he does not have to scrape and
hord up his dollars to have them
ready by the time tax paying comes
around. He gives the matter very
little thought. He never thinks OF
paying his taxes until the last mo-
ment. He can hold off till the very
last day, il there should be no exten-
sion OF time, he turns to his check
book and writes out check Cn the
bank for the amount Of his taxes aud
goes on about his business, II is q
matter Of about two minutes concern
to the man Of capital, while it is q
matter Of many weeks saving to the
poor man. Should the time be cx.
tended at the last moment the capi-
talist simply uses his money that
much longer, while it is about as
hard for the poor man to meet the
obligation before the expiration OF
tho extension limit as it was before
the extension was made.
Again, the extension Of the time FOR
paying tax is made after the Treas
urer and Auditor have begun on their
work of afIixing penalties ETC., ard
all that work has to be done over
again, causing much extra work for
these officers who already have plenty
work to do which is absolutely neces-
sary.
1t is q bad policy and VIC are against
1t. Taxes have got to be paid, and it
Is better to fix time for payment
and adhere rigidly to it. The people
would soon fall into the way Of prompt
payment and the county would be bet
ter off, the county officers would know
when to expect the tax money to be
in hand and could make their calcu-
lations accordingly. II from the
first Of January to the first of March
Is a better time for collecting taxes
than the present schedule, then fix
that as the time, fix somc time per-
manently and let's have no more of
this tantalizing prospect Of extension
of the time for paying taxes.
k-
Sonth Carolina and Cbarl