Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-08-08
,NoomErAx WORKS UNEyENIY.
HARD ON THE NEVADA In
r

the Atlantic and Pacific States, IS not
fairly levied. While It may not 90 oP-
press,ve, in a positive sense. in tho East
:, ia altogether too high on q just consia-
grafton Of the workingman's wages and
hi, necessary expenditures for the support
of his family, on this coast. In the u
tom House employ, on the Pacific, there
is a discrimination in view Of the much
greater expense of living here over the
cost of subsistence in New York and else
where on the Atlantic side of the CONT
nent. We are aware that q serious ques-
ton a, to the constitutionality Of a law
discriminating In favor (ostensibly) Of n
section, in tax levy, can be raised. When
gold revenues were given in and rated at
greenback ~value-by greenback payments
ON this coast, a very close a%pproxima-
ton to the seven thing for folks on
either side Of the Nation was made. The
completion Of the Pacific Railroad is
supposed by ONE to be a sure equalizer
Of costs Of living here and in the East.
Blu, that is a miscalculation. Perhaps
the only remedy for the comparative bur-
den will be obtained in an ~abrogation Of
the income tax altogether.
The miner getting his 50 so or 81 per
day in Nevada. realizes an income Of from
$1,000 to $1,000 per year, and he must
pay a heavy percentage for all above $500,
when-in numberless cases we know
it to be the fact-he can i'll spare q dollar
Of the wages he receives. 1t was certainly
a proposition worthy Of passage-and it
was earnestly urged in Congress at its late
session-the addition of two or three hun
dred dollars to the exempt portion of such
annual income, an account Of each child
entirely dependent on the citizen taxed.
We shall be excused for remarking that
such a provision would have left many Of
our Irish fellow citizens-a majority of
them, perhaps, who receive the amoun
yearly we have named-entirely free from
the income toll. We suspect that the
failure Of this exceedingly just PROPOSE
ton may be laid at the door of Thad.
Stevens and the other crusty old bachel-
ors of the House of Representatives.
But, maybe not. Childless married men
are more apt to oppose such propositions
than celibates.
The leading New England journal thus
speaks of this tax in a recent issue:
The income tax is not popular with the
community. Serious objections have been
made to the system both in England and
in this country, and it cannot be denied
that most of the objections are well found
ed. We are Enthusiastically q busy peo-
pie, and "mind your own business" is
popularity and probably not irreverently
classed as a commandment" The Off
Ger of internal revenue frames his court
for the trial Of the conscience Of every
man who has garnered the products of his
industry or capital. Discarding the old
familiar principle Of the common law,
that 'no man shall be called on to con-
Wet himself he makes the taxpayer both
accuser and witness ; and as some ingen-
ious machines are so constructed as to in
dictate by the click Of some t~ell-tale index
the precise amount or number Of the arti-
Giles which its other complex movements
are manufacturing, so every movement OF
the taxpayers right hand, every throb OF
the intelligent muscle which is weaving
the fabric Of his fortune, must furnish a
figure or a fact for the assistant assessors
record Of itemized "returns."
The man knows that some e%nterprising
printer who has as much right to examine
the public list OF the assessors and the
tax collector as any body else, will soon
send out to the world, and most Of all to
the eye Of the local municipal Sister"
las they call town assessors down in Con-
necticut), the full history Of that strong
box; and while the exposure will, per-
haps, sometimes crafty his vanity, be too
well knows that ne will have to pay rath-
er dearly for it, in other directions. CAS-"
income for the previous year is reported
at $40, 900, and s~traightway his house or
his counting-room becomes the Mecca to
which the enterprising agent Of the "Fejee
Island wooden clothing society" as we'll
as the itinerant beggar, will next day COM
mence his pilgrimage. A still more Sc
rious objection to the system is made by
the business man, who-after struggling
for twelve months against
disaster
Following thick-following faster"
is forced to seek the assistance, It may be,
Of friends whose patience has been sorely
tried, TO "lend their note at the bank" to
'extend the circular paper" in the hope
full expectation Of "a fine business in
lS65"-is compelled to say, under oath,
to the officer in making his return or in
come for the year, "for profit of business
or occupation"-0.
Still another serious objection is found
in the fact the system inevitably offers a
strong temptation to understatement,
false representation, or worse than all. to
unblushing fraud and perjury. The bad
unprincipled man well knows that the
amount Of his realized income is only
known in detail and amount to himself,
and that there is almost a moral impossi-
bility that, II he is false in his statements,
It will not be in the power of the assessor
to discern the fraud or convict him of its
preparation. He had rather be estimated
q poor man or an unprospeTous one, by
his neighbors; than to furnish seven mea-
sure" to the revenue "toll-dish." "Cus.
tom-house oaths" have ever been u part
Of the vernacular Of the unprincipled
among commercial men, and smuggling
has been lifted up into the regions Of he.
roism, in yellow-covered literature, as in
the dainty novel.
There are other and numerous objec-
tons urged against the system, but they
need no rehearsing. Congress in the late
enactment Of amendments to the internal
revenue laws, after a long incubation over
this part Of il, has done little to effect a
change in the provisions on this subject.
The rates remain the same, and but tn
fng notifications are made, including
some in the method Of assessment and the
taxes upon non-residents; and exempting
in certain cases companies and corpora
tons which have been made to pay inter-
est upon their bonds or other indebtedness.