TAXATION AND DEBT. 655 



This would make the tax paid in Soutli Carolina to average about one 

 and a half millions of dollars for each year of the sixteen during which 

 the tax has been collected. The aggregate amount is .0085 of the $2,807,- 

 153,628 collected as internal revenue in all the States. Taking the popu- 

 lation of 1880, the average for the whole United States is $55 per capita; 

 for South Carolina it is $24 per capita. 



THE CUSTOMS TAX 



of South Carolina is still more difhcult to compute. It is a strong point 

 in favor of these indirect taxes that, while as other taxes they are as 

 certain to come as death, they more resemble this dread visitor in coming 

 unawares. The collections made of customs in South Carolina offer no 

 basis whatcA^er for an estimate. Estimating the amount of the $186,- 

 522,064 of customs collected in 1880, in the ratio of the population of 

 South Carolina to that of the United States, the share paid by this State 

 would be about $3,700,000. This is probably more than what is really 

 paid, but it is estimated much higher by many. From this it will appear 

 that, granting that South Carolina pays less in Federal taxes than 

 the average elsewhere in the Union, nevertheless, she pays, annually, 

 $5,200,000 in such taxes, or more than double all her other taxes, State, 

 county and municipal together. 



SUMMARY. 



To estimate even approximately the burden that taxation and debt are 

 to any community, it is essential to form some idea of the relation they 

 bear to the wealth of the community. Unfortunately, the assessment 

 valuation for purposes of taxation furnish no data from which to judge 

 of the true values of property. Thus, in 1870, the assessed value of pro- 

 perty in Vermont was only 43 per cent, of the true valuation, and in 1860 

 it was 67 per cent. ; in New York, in 1870, it was 30 per cent., and in 

 1860 it was 70 per cent. ; in Illinois, in 1870, it was 22 per cent., and in 

 1860 it was 70 per cent. ; and in all the States the percentage of true val- 

 uations returned for taxes in 1870 was 47 ; for 1860 it was 70. The true 

 valuations of property for the year 1880 are in course of preparation in 

 the census office, but will not be completed for some months to come. 

 The census valuations of property in South Carolina placed it at $288,- 

 257,694 in 1850 ; in 1860 it was given at $548,138,754. This increase of 

 90 per cent, was rather remarkable, when it is remembered that, during 

 these ten years, the State not only gained little by immigration, but that 

 she spared largely of her population and wealth in opening up new set- 



