The Portland daily press., 1868-02-25


Legacies and SUGGESTIONS. 100000
Total, sl13,OO',OOo
Let stamp taxes be abolished because they
re onerous and troublesome to the people to
an extent dispropon ionate to the revenue
derived from them; because they are the oc-
caslon OF many yindictive prosecutions. when
the omission TO use them was the result of
ignorance o, heedlessness rather than faud.
and OF dptences against Just claims based nm
on mere noncompliance with prescribed
tormality. Let taxes on banks, railroads. in
surance companies, &c, be swept away for the
same reason that manufactures and sales are
exempted, and because they are rcassessed
with interestand premium upon shareholders
who bear them in the end.
Let the taxes on legacies and SUGGESTIONS
be retained, because as is ably explained by
John Stuart Mill, the right even of children
TO the property that has been ac .umulated by
their father without exel ton of theirs is not
right wholly unquestionable, and where
property falls to remote heirs il is more like
a stroke of good luck than by an equitable
claim. AT any rate no citizen is in so fayora-
BILE position to make donation to the State,
as he whom the State secures in a succession
to an estate he never contributed to create
and which the lawful owner might il he
pleased have given to a public charity, and
which passes to the fortunate inEeritor by
the accident of the owner forgetting to make
will.
Let the tax on incomes he retained as In
itself the most just form of taxation possible,
and some efforts be made to make its assess
ment fairer and more equal. Income and
not capital is the true subject OF taxation.-
In this respect the State taxation, which is
based upon gross property is open to objec.
ton. Lands, buildings, vessels, manufactur-
Ing establishments, stocks of goods, which in
stead of yielding incomes may be running
their owners in debt are still taxed at their
value, while large incomes derived from less
tangible sources escape taxation altogether
An income tax, with proper deduction of
what is spent or ought to be spent for ones
maintenance. and that of ones family. has
this advantage, that it always is an assess
ment upon clear actual gains, above the
amount necessary for living.
The advantage of an income tax is that IL
covers the whole legitimate field OF taxation
and is sufficient and fair substitute for the
taxes on manufactures, on corporations, on
sales and on bonds. If all these sources of
profit amount to surplus over the prescrib-
ed exempted sum, they ought to be taxed: if
not, they ought to escape taxation. Having
been taxed as income, they ought not TO be
taxed again to the special source whence the
income was derived.
In the general reduction of internal taxation,
which amounts to virtual abolition of all
special taxes, except upon incomes and such
luxuries as are not of universal use, and
when used profusely universally considered
deleterious, the demand to tax the United
States bonds will not be likely to be heard.
l admit that they are not exempt by the
terms OF the law from national taxation.
But can Congress impose upon them a tax
for the use of the United States, without tax
ing back without the consent of the bond
holder part OF the consideration it solemn
ly pledged itself to pay? If it may tax the
bonds one per cent may it not tax IL em six
per cent. and thus rebate the entire interest ?
Can Congress tax them for he uss of the
States, and donate the proCe eds OF the tax to
the States without an esas ion of the contract
to exempt them from State taxation? Would
it be fair fulflment of the agreement TO ex-
empt these securities from State taxation
for the government itself to impose tax for
the use of the State? Can Congress tax one
class of bonds, the very class it seemed to
prefer, without joining State bonds, Railroad
bonds, and city bonds, notes and MORTGAGES ?
Can an excise tax be constitutional that sim
giles out one article of general category for
imposition? Has not the exemption from
taxation for five years through the entire pc
riod when the government was borrower,
been equivalent to an Interpretation by Con-
gress, that the contract itself contemplated
the exemption? Would it be magnanimous
in government dealing with its own citizens
as its creditors to say: We kept back the tax
while we were soliciting loans fiom you ol
S6OO,OOO,O00 year, now we have got all we
want, though we need but 5000, 100000 year
we will tax you, and all the more in that
you have gone SO long untaxed? Now il is
beginning to be within the power of the
government to pay these bonds, would it moi
be more consistent with national honor tC
call them in as rapidly as possible, and sup
ply their place with bonds subject to State
and municipal taxation?
There remains, then, only s112,0O0,O0O o
revenue to be provided for by tariff. Th,
present tariff yielded for 1866, $4,000, ,OOO
and for 1867 s176,OO0,O0O in gold Reducin:
the sum to be levied to S112, 100000 would
allow tea, coffee, and sugar and raw material
generally to be admitted free of duty, and al
other products at greatly reduced rate. I'm
portations would increase; the revenue, in
stead of falling off with diminution of duties
might, and on many articles would increase
The inducement now held out TO smugslin!
would be effectually removed, and the larg,
army of special agents of the treasury, ant
extraordinary officers of customs employed
at great expense to detect and punish fraud
upon the revenue, might be dispensed with
Duties being payable in coin, which will hav
become of equivalent value to the ordinar
circulating currency, premium added to ex
cessive duties no longer oppresses the con
sumer, upon whom the importer throws its
burdens, with an additional profit to himsel
Whatever views may hitherto have beer
held in reference to protection it is obviou
that the principles of free trade have rapidl
gained ground under the bard experience O
the last few years; and that point has beer
reached in many articles of manufacture ant
production at which high rates of duty hav
only enhanced the price to the consumer
while the cheap production and manufactu
have been just as much beyond our reach a
ever. The excess OF imports, the steady ac
compartment of high duties and large prem
iums on gold, show that protection to HON
| industry has not been afforded, that we hav'
loaded ourselves with taxation to the verge o
exhaustion, while foreign fabrics glut on
markets, and our own manufactures Ian
| guish in proftless operation or fall into com
plete decay. 1t is very obvious that the peo
pie of the West, and the people of New En-
| gland, heretofore the great advocates OF
protective tariff, have become willing to tr
the experiment OF competing with toreisl
manufactures on scale OF duties to be base,
mainly ON considerations of needed revenue
| O. Il II