The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-03-25
WHY PAY THE OTHER
FELLOWS TAXES?
The Following Address Was Deliver
ed by Senator Christensen at the
Reconstruction Conference Held III
Columbia Recently.

Columbia Recently.
II is presumed here that all make
proner tax returns. A great man!
do not. They are 1.-The other 1ello"s'
You find your tax rates for scho Is
city county, and State purposes
monnting at an extraordinary pace
sunday you read the news oil an III
crease of 33 1-3 per cent state az
tiyities, and extra tax on all OF us
for road and bridge bonds put on ps
the counties, each carrying local ie,
les averaging perhaps, five milis. -,
addition to State, sch ol dlstrlc' alu
county increases. Does not that id.
vouq II ought to. If it does not just
think what is coming you next year
if this thing keeps on. ,a
Is il not time to find out II you anu
the other fellow are on the same ioot-
ing? Is any ne putting anything
over on you? ~ h.vo
Complaints about high taxes nave
heretofore come principally from
those who pay little or nothing TO tne
tax gatherer, men stirred by dema-
sogues with charges of extravasant
.ennronriations. Before the taxes ala
not bother the enterprising. Tooay
the demagogue is being ] ined IN MS
.complaint by the heavy taxpayer
There may be some money was.so 20 u
by those who are spending II ior tns
state. Such waste should De iooheu
after and stopped. We have me "
. noint where extension OF the tlelo
for nublic service should find tenn
norarv limit. But the principal prop
lem of our public finances has TO q
with outrageous methods OF gettihs
tayes and not with our reasonably oe.
cent tax expenditures. We WIN ho.
get far by criticising appr prratiolis'
unjust, unscientific, slipshod tax rais-
ing lies at the back Of our high leVles
and the just complaint OF unfairness,
Complaints come and go leaving US
officials high and w pledged 70 cut
appropriations but the taxes steaolly
increase under irresistible pressure
from the needs of a fast developing
commonwealth
W. need a campaign for rewriting
the laws for getting our taxes lhs
laws we w have do not operate anu
our assessments of the properly ol
individuals are for the most part their
voluntary contributions. Men pay
what the choose. The result is cha 5.
Ar~- of equal value, stanalhs
sid nv side in our own towns, ad]oln-
ing farms of equal value along our
country roads, are down on the laA
hooks for amounts that have no re-
lation to their relative values. Ihere
;s q bie lumber plant returned al less
than ten per cent of its worth ana d
nearby country bank returned TOT
fortv-two per cent. There are SANDY
farms worth less than ten dollars per
acre and rich farms in the same town-
ship that could not be bought loi
two hundred dollars per acre, re-
turned for eight dollars per acre.
This is the result OF our assessing
system formed generations ago Ior
conditions long since passed. ;,
Under our system much property Is
escaping taxation that is supposed to
return. Sources of revenue used Dy
other states are not used by us at all.
II Is estimated after careful IN
.ouirv that a considerable per cent
age of the real estate in South Gar
oIina is not on the tax books. In some
sections the percentage has been es-
timated as high as twenty-five per
cent A survey of the State showing
all property lines would cure tnls
situation and is feasible project lts
cost could be paid out Of the taxes on
the recovered lands during the next
five years. -.,
Millions OF intangible properties en-
tirely escape taxation. We are re-
ouired, under our Constitution n to re-
turn these properties at the same rate
as all other property and as TINS is
thoroughly impracticable 1t Is not
done To tax cash in bank on the
same basis as real estate and mer-
chandise would drive cash out OF the
State. 1t would mean taking twenty
four per cent of the earning power OF
m m~rtgages and forty per cent OF the
earnings of monies in savings banks.
We must have the authority to seq
regate property taxing IL on tne OASIS
of the income it brings in. There IS,
perhaps no ether state that attempts
to put on ad valorem tax On such in
tangible property. BY a different and
reasonable system, however, other
States secure large revenues from
these properties.
In 1905 a commission was appoint
ed by the Legislature to propose
new sources of revenue. AS a result
the corporation tax law was adopted
This brings us in approximately two
hundred thousand dollars per year,
but it is the only step we have taken
in these fifteen years to relieve the
burden from real estate and certain
classes of personal pr perty, which
are now bearing the whole burden.
1t is generally recognized that an
income tax is the fairest means OF
raising revenue, but We failed in our
offort to operate that system