Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-05-14

The word "incOme" is generally
understood In one Of two senses ;
that Is, II Is either taken to include
all the money that comes in to a
man In The way of business or
otherwise, without regard TO his
expenditures, being his gross in.
come; or Its regarded as synonl-
nous with profits, being what is
left after the expenses are deducted,
or the net income. Now the "in-
come" Of the income tax is neither;
It Is conventional term, decep.
tive and injurious in Its effects. II
is not the same as . mans total In.
come, for 1t provides for the deduc-
ton ola thousand dOllArsin eli cases,
aud admils several other deductions,
according 10 circumstances. II has
nOthipg % DO with the amount of
income whleha man Is at liberty to
lay up At the end Of the year, aud
upon which he would not object to
paying reasonable taxes. Let US
take the case Of q man on q salary
say q book.keeper, . minister, q
school teacher, or the follower
Of any other vocation. We will
cay biS salary 10 S25OO and he owns
Bic house, partly paid for. Alter
making all honest deductions, the
figures Of his tax bill leave him an
"income" Of one thousand dollars,
on which he pays fifty dollars.
Where Is that one thousand dol
lars? Is It In the mans pocket, or
In some good investment, laid up
for q rainy day? Not In the least;
1t Is al gone, paid out for the
necessaries Of life, in appeasing
the good appetItes and covering
the rapidly.growing backs Of a
family which would once have
been called small, but which the
aristocratic servant girls assure
him, aud ho himself begines TO be.
lieve, Is enormously large.
Here IL where his taxable "in-
come" is. The minister lays in
his winter fuel for $50, and he Is
told II is "IncOme"fOr which he must
pay 81 80; the rboOk-keeper finds
5000 Of his "incOme" In the bills of
his butcher and grocer, for which
he has to pay $50 tax ; the teacher;
at the end Of the year, can only get
glimpses of his thousand dollars 10.
gal income by running through the
whole dictionary Of household ex-
penses, from account book (the frat
Of ~necessaFles) to zinc for the kitch-
en- stove. 1t may be said, how
ever, that the one thousand dollars
deduction is allowed for meeting
such expenses as these but IL can
only DO said IN irony. OF those
paying income taxes to the United
States in these days, how many
live on one thousand dollars 2 They
are as few Us those venerable c0u-
pies, Of which we hear occasionally,
that never saw q railroad. Itcomes
Just to this, that in seven cases out
of ten the "income" on which q man
by the present system of taxation,
pays q i've per cent. tax to the
Government, means simply money
actually paid out for subsistence.
We say seven cases out Of ten, be-
cause Gen. Schenk's figures, given
the other day In the House, show
that while there arc only 9464 per.
sons In the country who are taxed
on $1,000 and upwards, there are
2l7,0O0 persons who pay on $1,000
and less. Dividing the 1900 per-
sons intervening between these
two classes, and we think that
every disp~assionate reader will adj
init our estimate to be correct. an
come tax" then, Is false title, aud
means, in the vast majority Of in-
stances, oppressive, vexatlous and
unnecessary taxation Of the neCessa-
ries Of life. Ii Is time that Congress
let it die, as its 0riginatOrs,
having reference only to the war
exigency, designed it should
Boston Journal.