The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-06-03

ta2G Nnhn&eS.
In the course of his speech on Monday
on the tax bill, Mr.. schenck, the chairman
Of the committee that reported the new bill,
said: .eee5 i4af aeEsgt
I'VE hare provided that retailers shall be
classified, and shall pay according to the
amount Of their businesss25, $50, 800,
$500, 81, 000-severally for their licenses !;
and we have defined a retail dealer to be
not one who sells certain amount of IL
quor, but who sells liquor in quantities less
than one quart, and who sells to be drunk
on the premises. sefzs & q
Wholesale liquor dealers pay at this time
one-tenth Of one per cent. on all sales above
$4,000. We propose that wholesale liquor
dealers shall pay two and half per cent
twenty-five times as much-and shall pay
on all dsales over $4,000 instead Of over
$50, 200. 80 2; ~ z. .y-l,rs.lss - - s.
have made an estimate that from this
source we can obtain about s24, 900, 000,:
Judging by the statistics Of the trade. /
come, then, to the special tax imposed upon
the distiller himself. We have made it
800, and 81 on each barrel produced. We
have also added this system of taxation Of
sales. We have also added to that tax q
tax upon capacity. We provide that there
shall be three dollars a day paid on the ca
pacity of each distilIery that mashes and
ferments 100 bushels or less, and an addi-
| tional three dollars q day for each additional
hundred bushels mashed and fermented.s
We have retained the tax of two dollars a
gallon as direct tax on Fwhiskey but /
take occasion to say here now that it is not
the expectation, I believe, even of the
committee, that the amount of direct tax
will be retained by the House, or by Com
gress. IF We had let it be known four
months ago that whiskey was to be taxed
only one dollar or seventy-fve cents gall
lon we would have lost about 81, 0O0,0 900 of
revenue. do not know whether Congress
will agree to the, reduction. l., for one,
have come very reluctantly to the eonclu-;
sion that it should be done. From the
very beginning / was inclined :" to
fight it out on that line.n But have come
to the conclusion that keeping this tax at
two dollars per gallon will eventuate in.
continuing the rule Of the whiskey ring in
this country, and that the tax, therefore,
had better be reduced. We must not be
controlled, we must not be governed by the
whiskey men who are at this very moment
swarming in the city, especially anxious to
know whether the tax is going to be kept at
such rate as that they con continue their
operations. Step by step therefore, by de-
grees, have brought myself to the conclu-
sion that the direct tax on distilled spirits
ought to be put down to something Like
seventy-fve cents gallon. And the reason
why I would be disposed to seyenty-fve
cents is, that from the examination Of many
taxes, and the investigation of the whole
subject, l believe that seventy-fve cents is
about the standard at which the tax can be
collected, and which will make it impossi-,
BILE for illicit distillation to be carried on
with profit. Illicit distillers cannot carry
on their business in concealed places, in
cellars and garrets in Chicago and Philadel-
phia-the two great points at which most Of
the enormous rascality is carried on-withl
any advantage at oil if we can beat them
in the market.
From a number of calculations that I have
made, / can come to no conclusion but that
we shall get at least seventy millions out of
whiskey in the coming year, instead of thir-
teen millions, to which we are now re-
duced. 80 sas-f ,
In reference to the income tax, it was to
be retained at FIVE per cent. but salaries
from the Government, on which no allow
ance was now made for house rent, bad
debts, &c., were henceforth to be accounted
for as other. incomes, instead Of having the
tax deducted on their being paid.
In reference TO the tax on railroads, par
ticularly horse railroads, they were no
longer to be allowed, under the revenue
law, to exact from their passengers that tax,
~, ,rbf tho 20 hnt w0l1 LII
have to apply for relief under that head to
the local or municipal governments.
AS to tobacco, the committee had made a
great many amendments in regard to the
collection Of the tax. 1t had endeavored to
make the law rigorous, certain OF execution,
and to have the collection made through
the medium of stamps. While the country
had been astounded with the enormous
frauds committed in eVading the tax on
whiskey, it had not been much better with
tobacco, though he confessed that whlskey
| was little ahead in the race of rascailty
Instead of the three classes of taxation
40, 80, and Is cents pound-the commit
tee now recommended only two classes, at
40 and Is cents. The committee also pro-
vided that smoking and chewing tobacco
should be put up in small packages, and
the tax paid by stamps.
AS to cigars, the committee had thought
of doubling the present tax Of five dollars
per thousand; but that, perhaps, would not
be insisted upon. His own opinion was
that they ough to reduce the tariff on
cigars, as not affording the protection which
was intended to home manufactures. Inc
tax on imported cigars now averaged S76
the thousand, and the consequence was that
SIN juggling was carried on to an alarming
extent. =, .. !, ss..s-s- IL
m. q za.-r yr,cmnnn "A norc11e Of