Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1870-07-01


part of his income should like to know
how the person who pays that tax will be
able to charge that over 10 the laboring poorr
Mr. BAYARD. II will give me the great
est pleasure in the world, in the course OF
few moments, to oanswer my honorable friend
on the subject of the tax upon Government
bonds. | think there is most just and pro-
per aud equitable mode OF causing that vast
mass Of accumulated property to bear its
portion OF the public burdens; and before |
take my seat shall have a proposition to
make to the Senate, in which hope | shall
have his concurrence, TO secure that most
desirable end
Mr.. THURMAN / will say 10 my col. |
league that his Illustration about our salaries
will not do at ALL He inquiries how can we
charge over the tax we pay on our salaries ?
1t is not necessary to charge it over. It Is
direct tax on labor.
Mr.. SHERMAN. II is not a tax on the
laboring poor.
Mr.. THURMAN Itis a tax on the labor
ing poor, too, with many of us. GLaughter.l
Mr.. SHERMAN. Without interrupting
the honorable Senator from Delaware, was
struck with the force OF the argument Of my
colleague; but should like TO know how
anybody who pays a tax on rents, which Is
collected the year after the rents are paid,
can charge that tax to the laboring poor, to
the man who pays the rent.
M. BAYARD. Certainly the tax upon
the salary of a Government officer Is not a
tax upon upon accumulated capital; II Is not
a property tax; 1t is certainly tax upon Ia
Dor; and therefore is not within the intent
and genius OF an income tax, as 1t was con
sidered in the country from which we have
taken il.
This law, therefore, Is delusive, unjust,
and as | have heretofore, hope, demon
efVotnd nalpablv unpnnatifuifnna1 in thaf n
is a tax on land and not levied In proportion
to the number of Inhabitants. There are
clauses even OF its exemptions which are ut
tcrly unjust, inequitable, indefensible. They
are exemptions at any rate which cannot be
justified upon the principle upon which this
law is affected TO be based, 10 wit, tax up
on accumulated wealth, because il it has a
just side to 1t, 1t is that it is a tax propor-
tiouale TO the amount that each man receives
from the community; and therefore he who
receives little will ray but little, and be who
receives much shall pay in proportion there
TO. But the moment you institute this sys.
TEN OF exemptions you destroy that doc
trine; and for the purposes of injustice, and
for the purpose OF narrowing down the class
OF men upon whom this tax shall rest, and
to punish them because they are rich, and
because they are few, you destroy the very
principle on which your law affected 10 rest,
and upon which it bad Its sole justification,
which was that it should be tax relatively
imposed 10 tbe amount of income absoiutelv
enjoyed.
Let me call the attention of the Senate to
the fact that under this bill, and call the at
teniiOn OF my honorable friend, the chair
man ofthe committee to II, incorporated COM
NAMES. railroads and other mnanies w hose
proner,v is renresented Inv canilaI s,ock are
directed and authorized 10 withbold from
line slock.owner the amount of inv imnosed
bv fins law Now bere state t6ot ,nder
lie oneration of This law ifanv ornbsn cbiId
ifonv widow has an incnms of A. son or a. 000
ner annum. or less derivable fron, stocis in
an incornorated comnanv az men,ioned IN
his section of the nreseni act the comnanv
viii witbboId tbe tax mon tbe whole oi her
income and not one dollar will he eremnted
for her use.
Such il the onpration of tlis law yonr
exemntions false as thew are in their min
| cinle. arc eonallv delnsiye ineonitable and
uniust in their nTactical annlicaIion Nv The
| nrovisiosss of tI,is Law vd,, ahsointolv ,eire
! rom ihbso ,ossons whose l;,tle Iii /, inves.
teu "a. ns -, i,oI sso, %, .sss &C lIsaIs;es
the very exemption that you proclaim TO the
, world is put there for the benefit OF those
| who have the misfortune of being poorer
than their neighbors.
l have declared this law to be, in my opin-
ion, unconstitutional, in violation of the
provisions Of the Constitution of the United
States. ! have declared It to be law which
fails in the original object and intent for
which such laws were passed, TO wit, to tax
accumulated property; because in effect the
burden is so easily, so regularly, so con-
stantly transferred to the shoulders of the
consumer, whom it affects to exempt but
whom in reality it oppresses.
But there are other features OF this law
that l think must condemn il in the eyes OF
every man who desires to see that condition
oi moral sentiment in this country which,
after all, is the best security for the perform
ance OF their duties by the citizens. De-
moraiZe them, and what is leftY You have
no safeguard, no hold on them but the laws
Of coercion, the laws of mere force. You no
longer lave the pledge of good faith from
those " hom you rule; but you rely entirely
upon coercve measures to extract from them
a cold and unwilling pertormance of duty
which should be rendered with a warm and
ready acouiescepce.
Sir. this law has been well characterized
by one of the best writer's on political ecouo-
nv, MI Mccullough, to be truly" tax on
honesty and bounty on perjury and fraud. ~
The induisitions into the private affairs oil
men which this law is compelled 10 resort to
are formations too strong for human nature
in the aggregate. too full of causea of resent.
ment moi 10 meet with resistance. Task any
gentleman within the sound OF NV voice
What ia lila practical opinion of the results
unon the Treasury this attempt to imrose
an income taxp How far has n procured
Ibat return TO the Treasury which In theory
was expected from itY And then. when vol
have ans wered that question. ask and let
every American ask. with sorrow and with
+ shame what cost 10 the neonle of this conn.
trv has attended The refusal to comnlv with
tLis fax nw9 Sir there has been no more
+, trni,cni sonrce Of dsmorsiizstion IN tbt
, nsnrle of ms conn,ry notbing has so tended
r ~ dostrov oil scnse ~ trn,h snd moreI re
snonsitili,v os the nressnre mon he con
s,;ances cf tho rsdrIe Of AZ conn1r,, :,
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