The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-09-09
inequalities I'm State Taxation and' THE
Remedy.

The Sun has recently published tw O
articles relating to the assessment
Of property in this State for tax
atiTn under the general assessment
law Of 1910. The result OF that re-
assessment has been to increase the
valuation Of property in the. coun-
ties by nearly s12O. 100000. Since
1897 when the last general assess
ment in the counties was made. the
assasszDent Of Baltimore city. which
was already high, has increased
s1Ss,s65. 5000, or over so per cent.
I'm the articles referred to it is
pladrV sA0wn that the system Of
state TAXATION is defective n that
there Ia ilo uniformity of assessment
In Haltimore property is assessed MP
90 lis fuii value. In some Ok the
counties, even under the new assess
ment, the valuation Is far beiaw the
actuaf value. In some counties
property is assessed at q bout 80 per
cent OF its value, and in otilars at
about SO per cent. In Frederick
county. for instance. it is s;eid: that
farm lands which are held by their
owners at 800 an acre, or near that
SUM are assessed at $40, to which the
value OF the improvements is, added,
making the assessment I'm come in
stances not much more than half the
real value. This. perhaps, explains
Frederick county, the largest county
in the State, and probably next to
Baltimore county the richest, is as
ssssed at s4.500.OOO less than Wash
Fington county, and has gained less
\ han Carroll. Frederick has $50
ksquare miles Of territory, while wash
fington has only 457 and Frederick
has the most fertile and best improv-
ed farming lands in the State. Where
property in a county Ls assessed at
half it's value. the owner Of that
property pays only one-half as much
prOportionately Of ths direct State
tax as the owner Of property in the
city or another county, where the
property is assessed st the full value.
This is an injustice. which cries
aloud for remedy.
So long as the assessment through
| out a county is reasona bly, uniform.
| it makes no difference about local
| relatively a high tax rate, and a
high assessment means a low tax
| rate. the amouns OF the tax actually
paid by the taxpayer being the same
IN either case. But it does make a
difference when it comes to the State
tax. The rate OF the direct State tax
is uniform throughout the State.
| Those counties where the assessment
is more nearly up to the real value
will have proportionately more to
pay. That is the reason why the city
| OF Baltimore pays more Of the direct
| State tax in proportion to the wealth
| than any other part Of the State.
| Let us suppose that a man owns a
| house in the city worth $4,000. 1t
| will be assessed at $4,000, and his
bill for state taxes. at the present
| levy Of % cents on the 800, will be
s22. Now let us suppose that a man
| owns a farm in Frederick county
worth $4,000 and that farm is as
sessed at $1,000. His bill for State
taxes on 1t will be only s11. or one
| half what the city man pays, and the
two men are worth the Same. That
! is not payment OF taxation according
| to the actual worth as required In the
Constitution. 1t has been suggested
| that this inequality might be rem
! edied by having a single assessing
| agency for the entire State whose
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