The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-12-03

appropriations. which are based on
the estimates Of the comptroller gen
eral gathered from the tax returns
of the previous year. The state
! finance committee. consisting of the
governor, the state treasurer and the
comptroller general, is empowered to
! borrow such money from time to
time as may be necessary to defray
the current expenses of the state
government .r,ptil sufficient revenues
can be collected. The property taxes
are not due until the last quarter Of
the fiscal year, and usually 80 per
/ cent. of this tax revenue is not col
! lected until the next fiscal year. In
consequence the revenue of the state
/ is normally received about one year
after the expenditures budgeted
against such revenue have been made
and the interest payments on the
temporary loans made in anticipation
of revenue are an important item in
the state expenditures.
A brief outline Of the main fea-
lures of the tax legislation of South
Carolina has been given above, but
there is often a considerable degree
of divergence between the letter and
spirit of legislation and the charac-
teristics it develops in actual opera
ton. In the following sections, the
;South Carolina tax system, as it op-
perates, will be compared with the
basic principles Of taxation brought
out above.
Operation Of System.
The establishment of the state tax
commission, with wide powers of su-
pervision and administration Of tax
alton in South Carolina, was dis
tinct advance in the history of taxa
ton in the state. The last rs years
have been marked by a growing real
izstion of the hopeless inefhciency
and inequality which result from de-
centralized tax systems, and of the
Improvement which follows upon a
centralized administration of taxa
ton, and especially Of assessment of
property for taxations even though
no change is made in the tax laws
4 themselves. The law creating the
South Carolina tax commission was
an excellent piece Of legislation for
which the state is entitled to credit
and only minor changes therein are
necessary to place lit: beyond serious
criticism.
Section l of this Jaw states that
the commission is created ''in order
effectively to carry, into executor
the equitable assessment Of prope1t.
:, for taxation" Section 8, subsection
l, states that it shall! have the powc'
; and duty to exercise general super
: vision over the adnHnistrat ton af the
assessment and tax laws of The
state This latter section indicates
by these words that it was the in
tention of the legislature in creating
the tax commission that it should ex
ercise supervision over all the taa
laws and not only over the property
| tax. 1t is desirable that the ta,
| commission should. exercise to thu
. full such power of general super
> vision, that it shall not confine it,
I. activities to the administration Of tht
property tax. The other chief criti
cisms to which the tax commission a
| at present constituted seems open
are: it's inadequate powers of regu
lation, discharge and penalization o.
; local assessing officials; the failur
, of the act creating it explicitly t.
, confer upon the commission the righ
5 to hear appeals from county board
: of assessment; the failure to require
, of all the members Of the commits
sion sole attention to the work O.
the commission and to make CORE
7 spending appropriation" for salary
the inadequate appropriations fo
salaries and clerical help, and tn
failure to authorize state surve,
of real property under its supervis
, ion. Criticism of the Relationship
board of review is made below.
S"All available data strongly in