Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-05-15
THE INCOME TAX.

United States Revenue Assessors IN as
sessing the income and gold and silver
plateitaxes for 1866:
Only one deduction of six hundre,
dollars is allowed from the aggregate in
comes Of all the members of any
family composed of parents and minor
children, even though only one parent
may be living 1t is not essential that
the children live with the parents. Hus-
band and wife are regarded as members
of the same family, though living separ-
ately, unless separated by divorce or
other operations of law, such as TO break
up the family relations 1.-THE members
Of family have separate incomes, the
returns may be made separately by the
proper parties, and ratable proportion
of the six hundred dollars deducted from
the income of each The parent, as the
natural guardian Of the minor child, is
required to make return for ii; but
where any other guardian or trustee has
been appointed the return should be
made by the latter Rent o. homestead
actually paid may be deducted, but the
rental value of the property owned by
the taxpayer is not a subject of deduc-
ton Any person claiming deduction
on account of expense for room rent
must satisfy the Assessor that the room
or rooms occupied by him constitute his
home, and that he has no residence else
where and this being shown, he may
be allowed to deduct what he actually
pays for rent of such rooms When rent
is included and deducted as an expense
Of business, it must not again be de-
Quoted as rent Nor should a person
hiring house and sub-letting portion
of it be allowed to deduct more than the
excess of his payments over his receipts
Where no repairs have been made by
the taxpayer upon any building owned
by him during the preceding five years,
nothing can be deducted for repairs rsade
during the year for which income is es-
timated Taxpayers frequently claim
deductions for losses in depreciation in
the value Of stocks or other property Of
a like nature. No deductions can in
any case be allowed for depreciation Of
value Of such property until it is actually
disposed of and loss realized Costs
of suits and other legal proceedings ari
sing from ordinary business are TO be |
treated as other expenses Of such bust
ness, and may be deducted from the
gross profits thereof Expenses for med
icsl attendance, store bills etc, are not
proper subjects for deduction Expenses
of repairs of implements, tools, etc, used
in business, may be deducted
Among the National, State, county and
municipal taxes deductable from incomes
are comprised such internal revenue
taxes as have not been included in ex-
penses Of business, AID such municipal
taxes as are assessed ratably upon all the
persons liable to such assessment; but
assessments made by municipal authori-
ties upon the inhabitants Of particular
locality Of a town or city on account Of
special Improvements in or upon the
streets adjoining the premises of such
the same not being assessed
ratably, are not considered as taxes de-
dactable from income If the manufac-
turer or dealer has been in the practice
of estimating his annual profits by TAX
ing inventories of stock, he should take
the cost value Of such stock, unless he
has taken the market value in making
previous returns. Whichever method has
been adopted by the taxpayer should be
adhered TO uniformly
Ifinterest accrued during the year on
notes, bonds, etc, is good and collectable
at the end Of the year, it should be re-
turned as income, whether collected or
not. The fact that income il devoted 70
the payment Of debts does not release
the same from liability to income tax.
Residents should make return in the dis
trict where they reside at the time Of
making the return. The residence re-
quired, under section lie, for the purpose
Of taxing income is held to be "a residence
during the year for which income is de.
rived. If any person subject to income
AK resides abroad, his return should be
made in the district where be last resided.
Citizens Of the United States residing
abroad are subject to tax upon their en-
ire incomes, from all sources whatever,
md the same is true Of foreigners re-
iding in this country. The term real
state includes all lands, tenements and
corporal and incorpo-
cal Profits On real estate purchased in
prerious year need not be returned as
Incomes. nor can losses on such sales be
edueted therefrom- Where an income
xcseds Ave thousand dollars, six hun
red dollars viii be exempt, four thousand
ollars subject to g tax at Eve per cent,
nd the remainder al ten per cent All
rpenses for insurance upon property,
: N .-.-,1 lo-.o. n hurincen. nav be (