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A GEORGIA PROGRAM
TO RE-CREATE THE;
SFroads EMPIRE STATE
|F Tas' /M; \OF THE SOUTH Z, ALLOCATED AND® 1
|g ft |j“ ASSIGNED BY LAW 1
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Differences between conditions ii
Louisiana and Georgia, described ir
the preceding article, are partly bal
anced by certain similarities in their
problems.
The depression of 1929 curtailed
revenues of cities and counties all
over the nation. In 1932, when relief
measures began under CWA, local
revenues and local reserves were low.
Nevertheless, the local units were
called on to match federal relief
giants. They did so, with a result
that they soon found themselves fac
ing virtual insolvency. The parishes
(counties) of Louisiana were no more
an exception to this rule than the
counties in Georgia.
Among the taxes imposed by Lou
isiana is a “severance tax” on oil
produced in the state. This tax yields
more than $6,500,000 each year,, more
than half of which goes to the pub
lic schools. However, the Louisiana
legislature gave to the parishes 20
per cent, of the “severance tax,”
which produced for these local units
more than $1,500,000 in 1937.
Like Georgia, Louisiana draws its
state income from many different
sources. Much of the income is allo
cated to highways, either for current
work or for the retiring of highway
bonds. Large sums go for flood con
trol, such as the construction and re
pair of levees. Schools in Louisiana
received from the state more than
$13,000,000 in 1937. School revenue is
derived from ‘allocated’ sources, in
cluding a great part of the ad valor
em tax, part of the gas tax and many
smaller items.
Louisiana included homestead ex
emption, as did Georgia, in its pro
gram of progress. But the basis is
very different. The state and local
units are paid the ‘exempted tax’
from a special state fund, the “prop
erty tax relief fund’ into which goes
the tax on public utilities, the income
tax, the alcoholic beverage tax and
other items that made the total in
1937 $9,515,000.
The system of allocation in Louis
iana is even more thorough than in
Georgia, so that the general fund
meets only the ordinary expenses of
government, such as executive, legis
lative and judicial expenses, and the
cost of the eleemosynary institutions,
which are more numerous and better
supported than in Georgia, and the
cost of operating the colleges, which
received from Louisiana in 1937 about
twice what Georgia gives its univer
sity system. Into the general fund
goes part of the ad valorem levy, the
occasional licenses, the corporation
franchise tax, the beer and tobacco
taxes and some smaller items of mi
nor taxes and fees. The total in 1937
was just above $10,000,000.
That pays for everything except
‘social security’—the items of old-age
benefits and payments to dependent
children, the blind and the crippled,
w'hich in Georgia are administered
by the department of public welfare.
In 1936, the Louisiana legislature
sought for money to meet this item
on the bill. The result was adoption
of a “Luxury Tax Act,” which impos
ed a tax of 2 per cent, on the sale
of many articles at retail. The yield
was about $3,300,000 in 1937.
In 1938 the act was repealed, in
answer to popular clamor and a re
tail sales tax was enacted, with a
rate of 1 per cent., expected to yield
about $5,000,000 annually and balance
the budget. This has proven general
ly satisfactory, but having been in
effect only since July 1, 1938, it is
difficult to analyze the ultimate re
sult.
The “luxury tax”, however, proved
a complete failure. It was difficult to
collect because of innumerable ex
emptions, including tobacco products,
alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, meat,
milk, most grocery items, clothing
and shoes retailing under $3, farm
implements, live stock, seeds, ferti
lizer, motors and gas and oil, kitchen
ware, newspapers and many other
items. The merchants found it diffi
cult to explain to customers and more
difficult to keep track of it. It re
quired a large staff of auditors in
the tax collection offices. It annoyed
the public, which was never quite sure
what was taxed and what was tax
free. The return was not in keeping
with the expense and the abandon
ment of a tax that exempted only to
bacco products and gasoline, already
taxed, was found generally an im
provement.
Louisiana’s recent tax history,
therefore, offers chiefly a negative
in comparison with Georgia. The
problems, made dissimilar by Louis
iana’s ‘severance tax’, are not pre
cisely the same. The major conclu
sion that can be reached is that a
luxury tax is wholly unsatisfactory,
difficult and expensive to collect and
unpopular with the public.
Alabama, a state more similar in
geographic position, background and
sources of general and tax income,
faced the problem of state and local
finance and tried other methods of
poh.ition I
FAIR GUIDE
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When you visit the New York
World’s Fail 1939 you will find fair
Fair girl guides in natty costumes
ready to furnish information or even
escort you around. The fair Fair
guide above is a fair sample of the
service the Fair will give Fair visi
tors.
Helpful Facts On
Old-Age Insurance
By JOSEPH R. MURPHY, Manager.
Atlanta Field Office, S.S.B.
Q. Should each employer 1 in cover
ed employment report the correct
name and account number of every
employe on his quarterly tax report ?
A. Yes. From the employer’s quar
terly report the employe’s wages are
posted into his account. His benefits
will be based on the total amount of
wages posted in his account.
Q. Are benefits being paid now un
der this provision of the social secur
ity act?
A. Yes. Two types of benefits are
now being paid by the federal gov
ernment under the old-age insurance
provisions of the social security act?
1. Lump-sum benefit payments to
wage-earners upon attaining age 65.
2. Lump-sum benefits to relatives
or estates of workers who die before
attaining age 65.
Q. How is the amount of these
lump-sum benefits determined?
A. The amount of these lump-sum
benefits is equal to 3 1-2 cents on
each dollar of wages received by the
employe in employment covered by
the act, from Jan. 1, 1937, until he
attains the age of 65 or dies.
Q. When will payment of monthly
federal old-age retirement benefits
begin ?
A. On and after Jan. 1, 1942,
monthly federal old-age retirement
benefits will be paid to eligible per
sons.
Q. What are the requirements to
receive a monthly old-age retirement
benefit?
A. In order to receive a monthly
old-age retirement benefit from the
federal government under old-age in
surance at the age of 65, individuals
must have received wages in employ
ment covered by the act in at least
five different calendar years after
' Afof nows
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BLACK-DRAUGHT..
“An old friend CsMll
of the family.” d
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1938.
Know Your Timber
Emily Woodward
Students in Georgia schools have
something far more important to
gain from participation in the essay
contest sponsored by the Georgia For
estry association than the chance of
winning one of the valuable money
prizes that have been offered.
Georgia’s forest resources are to
be a part of the heritage of these
boys and girls who will be Georgia’s
citizens of tomorrow. Properly pro
tected now, the forests will contribute
to their economic security in the
years ahead. Laid waste by fires and
other destructive agencies, they will
give place to desolated areas, eroded
tields, depleted water supplies, all of
which will make the struggle for ex
istence more difficult for Georgia’s
future citizens.
In the study necessary to write a
creditable essay on the subject, “Why
Georgia Counties Should Support
Forest Fire Protection,” Georgia stu
dents will be acquiring information
that should help to equip them for in
telligent performance of their duties
of citizenship. Young Georgians have
much to gain from beginning now to
KNOW THEIR TIMBER.
Dr. Charles Herty, who has done
more than anyone else to make Geor
gians conscious of the value of Geor
gia’s forests and to foster a knowl
edge of the imperative need for their
protection, saw in county-wide pro
tection the most certain and effective
means for forest conservation. In one
of his last statements, Dr. Herty
made a strong plea to Georgia citi
zens to make the necessary steps to
make such protection possible.
Young Georgians will be glad to
have had a part through participation
in this contest, in paying tribute to
the man who has done most to pre
vent them from being deprived of the
heritage of adequate forest resources.
1936, and their wages from such em
ployment must total at least $2,00C.
However, monthly benefits will not be
paid until the individual retires from
covered employment.
Q. Can an employe work part of
the time in covered employment and
part of the time in employment not
covered by the act?
A. Yes. Only wages received in
covered employment count toward
old-age insurance benefits.
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B oct* l^lllf l ” ,i
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SUMMERVILLE, GEORGIA
Subscribe or Renew Your
Subscription To
The Summerville News
During The Fair For Only
SIOO A Year
Mrs. Peck —When you married me
you deliberately deceived me.
Henry—ln what way, dear?
Mrs. Peck—You told me you were
well off.
Henry—Well, I was well off. In
fact, I didn’t realize myself how well
off I really was.
WPA ROLL AT PEAK.
WASHINGTON.—As the week of o
Sept. 2 . ended, the WPA reported
that its enrollment reached another ;;
peak, 3,120,036. This was the sixth “
consecutive new high for work-relief k
employment, which a year ago num- f
bered slightly more than 1,000,000.
T. J. ESPY, JR,
Attorney-at-Law
Summerville, Georgia,
over MeGinnis Drug Store.