TAXATION AND DEBT. 653 



It will be noticed in 1881 that there is an item of $464,300, under the 

 head of " poll and school tax," not treated with the annual State taxes. 

 It is derived from the poll tax and a tax of two mills on all property in 

 the State, and is not imposed by the General Assembly, nor subject to ap- 

 propriations made by it. A perpetual tax of this sort is levied by a con- 

 stitutional provision, ratified in 1877, and its proceeds are devoted exclu- 

 sively to educational purposes. 



In addition to the regular State taxes, South Carolina, in common with 

 the other States of the Union, allows" the citizens of the minor civil divis- 

 ions, and of the towns and cities, to impose, under certain restrictions, 

 such local county and municipal taxes as they may think necessary. 

 The counties and municipalities may also create county and muni- 

 cipal debts, distinct from the State debt. This local taxation was in 

 South Carolina for the year 1880, $554,164 for the counties ; and $542,109 

 for the minor civil divisions and municipalities. Of the latter the larger 

 part was levied in Charleston and Columbia. Outside of the counties in 

 which these cities are situated, the total township, town and village taxes 

 of the State aggregated only $62,514. Distributed according to popula- 

 tion, the sum of this local taxation amounted to $1.10 per capita; dis- 

 tributed according to area, it was $36.33 to each square mile. Through- 

 out the country at large the weight of these burdens is much greater, 

 the average for the United States being $5.09 per capita, and $94.49 per 

 square mile. The indebtedness of counties, townships, school districts, 

 cities, towns and villages in South Carolina amounted, in 1880, to $6,706,- 

 767 ; outside of Richland and Charleston counties, this total amounted 

 to only $1,498,437. This amounted to $6.72 for each one of the popula- 

 tion, and $222 to each square mile. The aggregate of this species of in- 

 debtedness for the country at large averages $16.67 for each one of the 

 population, and $276 for each square mile of territory. 



FEDERAL TAXATION. 



In common with the citizens of the other States, the citizens of South 

 Carolina pay taxes for the support of the Federal Government. These 

 are of two sorts, the customs duties on articles imported, and the 



INTERNAL REVENUE TAXES. 



The United States Collection District of South Carolina paid for the 

 fiscal year 1881, internal revenue taxes to the amount of $135,907- 

 This is a little more than one-tenth per cent, of the entire collections of 

 internal revenue in the whole United States. It is notable that the cost 

 of making these collections in South Carolina — compensation of collec- 

 tors, office expenses, per diem of store-keepers, fees and travelling ex- 



