French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1919-05-08
(By A. J. MaXWelD

calendar year as the OmcldI TAX year
Personal property will be listed in thu
usual way this year, as of the first day
of May, and the revaluation of rea
property for 1920 will be made as O.
the first day of May of this year, bu'
the listing of personal property fol
1920, under the ~revaluation act, viii
be made as of the first day Of next
January, and annually thereafter, as
of the first day Of January.
There were many considerations
led to this change.
The most important was the very
decided trend of all business affairs
to the calendar year as the basis of
annual accounting and reckoning. The
tendency has been in this direction
for years, and the adoption Of the
{, calendar year by the Federal Govern
ment as the basis of reports for cor
poration and individual income and ex-
cess OF profits tax reports has made
the practice of using the calendar
year as the basis of accounting almost
universal. 1t is the day Of settlements
and the one day on which everyone
should have the most accurate know
ledge. Of his assets and liabilities.
BY adopting this date the same sys-
tenn OF accounting will fit both State
and Federal income tax requirements
It. will give more time for the list
ing Of property and for more careful
making up of tax books.
Three Hundred Dollars Personal
Property Exempt
:. AT the same time the calendar year
pl ovtsion goes into elIect~January :,
1956-there is made effective the fult
amo 4nt OF exl-&I. authorized by the
:. constitution I'M ee hundred dollars of
personal property to every Taxpayer.
The items of personal property entit-
4ed to this exemption are: Wearing |
apparel, arms for muster, household
and kitchen furniture, the mcchan1-
cal and agricultural instruments IT
mechanics and farmers, libraries and
scientific instruments, and pro7i-
sions."
Debts May Be Deducted From Farm
Products.
. This change in tax listing date with
out some remedial provision would
have encouraged the early marketing
of cotton, tobacco, and other farm
products. This is provided for by
permitting farm products held tempo
Parily for market on January first ION
storage in warehouses, in the hands
of commission merchants or agents In
or out of thea State, or in the hands
of original producers, and held temp
+orarily for market" to be treated as
solvent creditors, and "the owner may
deduct from the actual value of such
products any debts owing by the own
err" etc. If the owner is not in debt
his tax liability will not be affected by
the change in date anyway, for if the
property were marketed before tax
listing day he would have it's equiva-
lent in money or other taxable prop
ertyt
The wv Act Looks For All Personal
Property to Go On Tax Books
: Bear in mind that none of the chang
es mentioned in this article apply to
this years listing of personal property
but the r~evaluation act anticipates that
: 3 thorough effort will be made to get
! i personal property OF tax lists att
/: 3 actual value in 1920 as to get all
zeal property valued at actual value,
Under the radically reduced tax rates
that will apply under the revaluation
in 1920 there will be no excuse left
for evasion, and the same officers VINO
will make he retaliation of real
property are expected to be as thor
ough in their efforts to require a full
disclosure of all personal property,
and they are given complete authority
f examination under oath, not only
of the owner, but of any n having
of the ownership.
The revaluation act is not aimed at
any one, two or three classes of prop
erty. but seems to be ample in its
provisions to secure the listing and
of all property of all kinds
by the n honest rule of actual worth,
and under a guarantee of a square
deaI in the matter of tax rates in re-
turn.
This article completes a brief pre-
s~entation of the main features OF the
r~eyaIuation act. The several articles
ON this subject have not been intend
ed as propaganda or preaching, but
IN present in the form of newspaper