The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-25
TIRE INCOME TAX

FoR the action of the Senate yesterday, in
striking out the provisions Of the House bill
relating TO the income tax, every just man in
the nation should be devoutly thankful. There
is no longer q decent pretext left for the con-
tinuance Of that odious, inquisitorial, aud
unequal method Of raising revenue. Not
only ia The faith of the Government sub
stantially pledged to its abrogation, but the
necessity for its imposition passed away while
its gross injustice was being clearly demon
strated The motives which prompted the
members from rural districts in the House to
vote for its continuance are
disgrace to American legislation. They
must have understood perfectly well that they
were imposing oppressive burdens upon thou
sands Of men in the cities from which their
own constituents of greater relative wealth
End no difficulty in escaping, and that they
thus taxed comparatively poor clerks and
business men for the indirect benefit of COM
paratively rich farmers, They must have
known that while the law weighed heavily
upon struggling honest men, it was habitually
evaded by prosperous rogues. They could
not have been blind TO the experience of
Great Britain that, while an income tax may
be theoretically fair, it is practically the
most unfair of taxes They understood
how bitterly the instincts of the
American people revolt against public ex-
posure of their private affairs, and how gall
ing it is, in numberless cases, to announce
either wealth or poverty to the world. They
could not have forgotten that the tax was
explicitly classified, from the outset, as war
tax, TO be dispensed with as soon as it ceased
to be imperatively required by the Treasury,
and they could not pretend to be ignorant of
the prosperous condition of the national
finances Under these circumstances they
committed such grievous wrong in favoring
Tho continuance of the tax, that they should
,be glad TO avail themselves of the opportu-
nifty presented by the action of the Senate
60 cAange front,
BY singular coincidence the chair
1nau Of the Senate Finance Committee
tho chairman of the House Committee of
Ways and Means, and the Commissioner of
internal Revenue, who are the most earnest
advocates Of the income tax, all hail from
Ohio Their course commands the approval
OF majority of the people of that Common
wealth. and we do not doubt that they faith
fully represent their immediate constituents,
but they should not be allowed, either by
their individual or Joint efforts, to impose on
the whole nation a policy especially adapted
to the views Of the Buckeye farmers A
Senator from California said recently that
Ohio. withs times the wealth and population
ofCalifornia, paid buta tri6e more of the income
tos, and this simple statement affords an un-
.snswerable argument against surrender of
the better Judgment of the American Con-
gress TO Ohio Senators and Representatives
A. prime requisite Of all taxation is that it
shall be made as equal as possible; and the
income taE is SO grossly deficient in this re-
spect, whether we regard it from sectional
Or an individual standpoint that the House
VIII commit an inexcusable error if it persists
IN lts attempts to perpetuate this odious inn
position, We have full faith, however, that
tho Senate will not recede from the just stand
it has taken, and chat the income tax will
therefore soon find its true place among
extinct moustrosities