The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-08-26

J
This durable, ass5,s
wsoiea plaid for eotd weather or .
mildly is. Of bioonered variety WI
undersuit is typical OF the aewest {.
packing houses in the United States,
viz. Armour & Co.. Swift g CO.,
Wilson & Co.. and Morris & Co..
which carry on business IN the
cities Of Florence. Columbia, Char
lesion, Greenyille, and Spartan
burg, each made its sworn state
ment to the commission its prop
erty values in the several above
named cities. Based upon these re-
turns, the aggregate assessment Of
the four packing houses in the
several cities above mentioned was
the sum Of ss5,237.80. Upon IN
vestigation by the commission it
was found that property actually
owned by these concerns should
have been assessed at s4s9. 10000.
This amount was fixed by the tax
commission as the correct assess
ment, thereby adding to the tax
able values of the four packing
houses in this state the sum Of
s4l4,l23.00. The actual increase
in taxes paid into the public treas
uries, by reason OF the commission
recurring these foreign CORPORA
tons to make fun disclosure OF
their property, calculated on the
prevailing levies in the cities in this
state in which they do business. for
the year 1920, amounted to the sum
OF s31,s76.74, or s6,23s.74 more
than the entire expenditures of the
tax commission for the year.
,s11g. .880. .e08.e0 in Taxable Prop
erty added
The work Of the commission in
putting on the tax-boeks approx
mately sl1e, ,669. 100000 in property
values, which had been escaping
taxation has been TO more evenly
apportion the tax burden. thereby
preventing an excess burden upon
those who had been over taxed
theretofore.
Notwithstanding the larg e
amount OF property which has
been put upon the tax books by
the work of the tax commissio on. at
was recognized1hat axalpon tam
bible property, sufficient to bear
the expenses of running the. state.
counties and schools. was growing
burde densone. The tax commission.
therefore, advocated the enact
ment of laws for raising revenue
from other sources. Among them
was a tax on inheritances which,
after several years OF effort on the
part Of the commission, became. q
law at the last session Of the legis-
lature. Another. was the so-called
gasoline tax act. Both, of these
acts were drafted by the tax COM
mission for passage by the general
assembly.
The. commission also advocated
and aided in the passage of the
income. tax law. and an increase in
certain corporation license taxes,
all of which became laws at the
last session of the general assem-
bly,. The net result of these new
revenue laws was to reduce the
state levy on real and personal
property from twelve. mills to sew
en- and one-half mills, and some
further reductions may be ex-
pected as revenues hereafter ae-
crue under the inheritance tax act.
Income Tax
In 1897 the legislature passed
an income tax law. It was admin
istered through the comptroller
generals office and the several
county officers charged with the
duty of assessing and collecting
taxes. The following table shows
the yearly and total taxes collected
under this law (-Aet. of 1890, and
before the tax commission was
created in 1915, a period Of seven
teen years. or from 1887 to 1914.
inclusive. each years tax being
based on the prior years income:
1898 SO, ,ssO.55
1899 4.S29.s3
1900. S15.34
1901 = 6OS.lS
1902 292.oS
1903 1,476.74