The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-14

hitherto. We mean that principle which
secures at once promptuess, certainty, cheap
ness, and indireCtness in the collection Of
taxes. In order TO accomplish these i'm
pOrtant ends, where the tax Is not direct and
specific, as In the case of a charge upon the
income or property of the citizens, but i'm
posed on articles of consumption, whether
nccessaries or luxuries, the tax should be
laid, wherever possible, and as nearly as
possible, on the raw material, rather
than on The various and manifold forms which
the material assumes through the processes
Of art and industry. For example, instead Of
taxing specifically snufIs, chewing tobacco,
and cigars, tax should be laid upon leaf
tobacco in the hands Of the producer, and il
ought to be large enough to cover tho whole
revenue designed 10 be derived from this par
tculsr staple. This would greatly economic
and facilitate the collection Of the revenue by
substituting one comprehensive lmpoJt, levia-
BILE and payable at once, for several distinct
taxes to be paid by and gathered from many
different persons. The aggregate duty levied
and collected from the producer in the first
instance would follow the product taxed
through all its subsequent phases of fabrication
and sale, and be borne, at last, by the multi
tudc of consumers, among whom it would be
distributed in proportion ID the amount re-
spcctively consumed by each.
At q recent Convention of the Tob1cconisls
from all parts of the free States, held at the
Cooper Institute, New York, the above-named
principle Of taxation was advocated. Mr..
Gallagher, addressing the Convention, said
"The object of tile Convention was not to reduce
tic support to our glorious Government, which
every gOcd citizen was interested in maintaining,
hut 10 increase it. The way TO do this was to tax
tobacco in tho leaf only; and if this plan was
adopted, the Government would receive at least
double the amount of revenue 1t now does from
the present system, besides greatly reducing the
expenses of collecting the same. Great cheating
was done by those called 'cellar' and "garret'
manufacturers, Two men making cigars in
cellar could swindle the Government out Of $50
per week.
Mr.. BURKE read statistical pamphlet, in
! which 1t was shown that we raised last year
| 42930O,771 pounds of tobacco. To tax this
amount only five cents per pound would
| yield larger revenue than the Government
had collected in two years. At twenty-five
cents per pound it would produce the enor-
nous SUM of S107 ,392, ,O92; and as the present
! Rebellion must soon draw to an end, in few
years the country would produce as much
tobacco as it did in 1860. The Convention
recommended that the Government lay the
duty on the leaf tobacco, and adjourned with
cheers for the Union and the flag Of our
country.
The same principle is capable of general ap-
plication to all kinds of produce, in their un-
manufactured form, and il adopted in practice
as far as it can b. conveniently done, would
simplify the process of obtaining revenue by
taxation in a wonderful degree.
The British system of excise was once
grievously oppressive, because it dealt directly
and specifically with too many and minute
subjects. Rev. SIDNEY SMITH ridiculed il
once in one of his most humorous yet sarcastic
paragraphs. The plan has since been reformed
and now, with fewer taxes levied in gross on O
comparatively limited number of items in the
excise list, an equal or larger revenue is real
lied than under the old system.
This whole subject, however, is not to bC
reduced to perfect scheme in practice with
out much consideration and experiment, ant
our statesmen are likely to have their inge
nuity exercised upon it very thoroughly within
the next few years. In the meantime Congress
might proftably study the modes of taxation
now in operation in other enlightened countries
and gain from that source all the light tina
comes only from protracted experience.