The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1921-04-06
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1921.
TAXES.

TAXES.
There was during the last session Of
the legislature more or less talk
around the lobbies Of political revo-
luton, scheduled to take place in state
politics at the next primary election.
We note from the Bennettsville Pee
Dee Advocate that some prominent
citizen" of Marlborough county feel
quite sure that such a revolution will
actually take place next summer. If
our memory serves US Alright it was in
Marlboro that the great political up
heaval Of 1890 began, and it may be
that conditions are ripe for another
such movement, though so far no
leader Of anything like the capacity Of
the late Senator Tillman has appeared
upon the horizon. When times are
hard it is not difficult matter to
make the average man believe he is
oppressed, tax-ridden and all that sort
Of thing. Should present financial
conditions continue through next
summer a good stump speaker, who
understood how to stir up the people
might easily succeed in getting enough
votes to land him in the governors
chair. And then-having realized his
ambition-he would be utterly power
less to reduce taxes without the con-
sent Of the legislature. It is very easy
to count the governors who have ex-
e.cised such control over the legisla-
ture that they were able to have their
way entirely in the matter of appro-
priating money. 3. r. Tillman, who
went into Office on a popular wave,
with a legislature pledged to support
him, and with almost the idolatry of
large majority Of the people, was
the only man who has occupied the
governors Office in the recollection of
the writer who has held such all ad-
vantageous position. And did he
lower taxes? A few salaries were cut,
but there was no appreciable cut in
taxes. We have not the record before
us, but we believe that it will bear out
the statement that within a very short
time after the Inauguration of the
Reform" movement they began to
climb and have since kept steadily on
the upgrade. But in the 27 years
since Tillman first appeared on the
political horizon South Carolina has
grown and developed-not so fast as
it. ought to have or could have grown
but nevertheless the progress is
easy to see, if one can remember our
condition as far back as the year of
grace 1890.
Undoubtedly the tax question will
be at the bottom Of such political up
heaval as may come in 1922, and it is
not at all improbable that it will come
if times continue as at present. 1t is
well enough, then, that the. people
give some thought occasionally be-
tween now and the next election to
this topic. Is it a fact, as some con-
tend, that taxes in South Carolina are
burdensome2 The answer depends
entirely upon the condition of the tax
payer. To some people taxes of all
kinds will always be high because Of
lack of funds. To man who owns
only a home and who has always a
constant struggle against odds to pro-
vide his family with the necessities Of
who levy the taxes must take in mind
this man-the average small taxpayer
in fixing the rate. It is the failure
Of our system to take into account the
ability to pay that makes it the trag-
edy which it sometimes is, and it is
i'm this particular that the income tax
g by all odds the most scientific Of all
forms Of taxation. And yet the in
come tax law in South Carolina,
through lack of enforcement machin-
cry, was complete farce-so much
80 that the legislature finally wiped it
off the statute books.
Taxes are high in South Carolina
on some burdensome-particularly on
those who own only small properties
and who make little if any above the
bare necessities Of life, while to others
who are possessed Of little visible
property and who enjoy incomes or
emoluments which put them far be-
yond the possibility Of want, the dole