Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-09-04
The Tobacco Tax.

WASHINGTON, August 2S.-The Attor.
ney General has decided that all tobacco
stored in bonded warehouses and with
drawn for sale or consumption before the
LIST of July, 1872, is subject to the taxes
prescribed by the act of July, 1865. and
that all tobacco i'm bonded warehouses on
the said lst of July, withdrawn after that
date for tie same purposes, is subject to
the tax prescribed by the act of June, 1872.
The acting assistant Secretary of the
Treasury, Richardson, recently sub
mitted for the opinion of the Attorney
General the following question At what
rate, in view of the amendments of June
6, 1872, should Internal Revenue taxes be
required upon tobacco which was stored in
an export bonded warehouse, on or since
June 8, 1872, when it was withdrawn for
consumption or sale in this country?
After reviewing the law upon the SUBJ
jcct, the Attorney General says in conclu-
sion:
Assuming that the word now means the
9th of June, and it follows that there is no
way in which tobacco stored in bonded
warehouse between said date and the first
of July, can, after the latter date, be with
drawn for exhibition without prepayment
of the tax, for, on the first of July the old
law was repealed, and the right to with
draw tobacco after that date for eXporta-
ton with lespect to the time it was stored,
is precisely the same as the right to with
draw tobacco for consumption or sale.
Ii do not see what difference it makes to
the government whether tobacco is taken
from bonded warehouse or mandatory
after the LIST of July upon the payment of
the new tax, unless, possibly, the payment
may be little longer delayed in the one
than in the other case. On the 9th of June,
it is said, there were large quanti-
ties of tobacco in transitu from the
mandatory to bonded warehouses,
and it certainly seems inevitable that to-
bacco which reached the warehouse on the
9th of June, and was withdrawn after the
LIST of july should pay tax of only TWEEN
ty cents per pound, while the same kind of
tobacco that reached the warehouse two
days afterwards and withdrawn at the
same time is compelled to pay tax of
thirtv-two cents a pound.
Congress, with a view to the injustice
that might be worked by a change in the
law before it could be known to those
whose interests were to be affected there
by, provided that section 81 should go into
effect on the LIST of July, and the residue
of the act, with few exceptions, on
the 1st of August. Where it was evident
that no harm could result, the act, in a
few instances, and where it is expressly
provided, takes effect upon its passage.
One OF the evils of our legislation is the
frequent changes in the revenue system OF
the country, and unless it clearly appears
that the intent of Congress is otherwise,
they ought to be construed so as to effect
with equal justice, all those upon whom
they are intended to operate.
My opinion is that all tobacco re-
stored in bonded warehouses and with
drawn for sale or consumption before the
1st of July, 1872, is subject tqnthe taxes
prescribed by the act of July I'd, 1865, and
that all tobacco in bonded warehouses on
the said LIST of July withdrawn after thai
date for the same purposes is subject to the
tax prescribed by the act of July 9Th, 1872
Warrants for the pardon of David Col
Inns, VIM. Neal, Amos Owen and VIM
Scruggs, who were convicted under the
kukluX law, and who are now in the AL.
bany penitentiary, have been prepared
and will be signed before the President re
turns North.