Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-04-02

4
nj lror rty within the meaning OF the law.
This que, tim OF money we have ,nr;Sid cred
one OF The most Troublesome. ani ole nj APP
pare ntly the mos! oppressive features Of this
la y as OF her personal tax laws. Is :ha.
RELATING TO CREDITS
The laws OF many Of the states pPrgni. deluc-
other states. such rs in the state q: Oaf0 All
the state of Indiana. and IL may ~ m oh ar
states, the deduction is limited to credits. AS
debts are allowed To be deducted from crel-
its, tho meaning OF the term "crelits" here
seems 10 me To be perfectly clear rs nearing
all legal claims or demands fer money or
other valuable thing. That is the meaning
OF the term as employed here, ant ia the
statutes OF several states. | can understand
now me 'efin 'credit might be somewhat
doubtful in its definition, except as L. l. use
In this law, as the opposite OF debts" and
being SO used, the difference between the
credit and the debit is what is to BE- taxed.
+ Nhether Congress was wise in this. or not. is
question that we need not discuss. am
strongly inclined to think, if the attention
OF congress shall he called To enlarging the
domain of debts for deductions. il will 10 So,
so as To let them be deducted from personal
property after the manner of some of the
states rather than simply from the ere tits.
certainly VIII b. inclined u favor that
priuciple myself. although the other princi-
pie Is one that / am familiar with. and per-
fectly satisfied with in my own state
Mr.. SommeS--SupDoSe "a merchant has
$4,000 worth of stock on hand, and has
so 600 due him in debts. which he sllDpoSeS
/ perfectly good. worth 10000 o. stock, aai
. =
| he entitled to S15tGg?
Governor Denn!son-No: he car desluct the
/ $4,000 hut he would have - maze fun re-
! turn of his merchandise. That would be The
practical result OF that.
Now. gentlemen, the remarks that have
! ventured TO make 20 You in behalf OF my co.,
! leagues and myself have been necessarily
somewhat diScuTsive. II / have omitted to
| refer TO points made by gentlemen will H.,
| very glad TO have my attention calleI 10
| tHem, not for the purpose OF anSlgDllZing
| them, but IL may be We would a-rcr rs to t.t@
construction given by gentlemen. Ihlve en-
deavored, Al general way, To answer what
seemed TO me 10 be the tenor of this hisras-
sion. The question has been raised in
REGARD To LICENSES.
Al i can say 10 You on this subject is this:
mat II the attention Of Congress had been
calleG-and that i a merely speculative
opinion-if the attention of Congress hal been
called TO the fact that licenses hal been
granted for and paid for here, tina. there
would have been some relief
Mr.. Clage.t.-IIave you licenses in Ohio
Governor benniSOn.-No; although il j.
Just 10 the commissioners 20 say that we did
represent 10 many members of Congress the
fact of there being a license system here.
winch was 10 some extent a Substitute for
personal tax, but the fact was not b.ought to
Inc attention of Congress i'm the debate. and
II was Therefore overlooked. / can harily
reconcile myself TO the purposes Of Congress,
IL the question were hrOiI.lIf haforp il - -
tinue the license and the personal tan in the
way IL is even i'm this bin. VI the same :ipIa
we DO rot feel authorized. merely uu1l am
la
the way Of controlling the till.
Mr tlagett-1ou have no pOwe-.
Gov. bcuniSOn.-NO sir.
=. Mr.. Miichcll-Allow me - PIT this cues
non; II on the Isl day OF April q man goes
iito business here a3d MS sock Is assessed
III ~-y,pe0 or ~"c,'dh. ard he i cDHlDriie -
iake ont license, his license runs from the
lst day Of April to ihe Isl day of Nova,n Der.
anu That license amounts Ia $50 or : $40 i
nOtIthat dchI.
Gov. Dennison.-In the meaning Of me
law?
Mr.. Mitchell-Yes. sir
Gov. Hcnn.Son.-I should suppose mo-.
Mr.. Mitchcll.-It is part OF the charges
Gov. Dennison.-If YOU present tina. qae,-
ton II viii be carefully conSidereI
M M; MItcheil-Take another point.
Gov. DeDnlSDn.-My colleague SrlgraStS
mat !; has been stated by n gentlemen who
is well known to you as a lawyer IF merit,
IhaI IN MAKING up the values you should
charge against the Values the tax sou pay.
Mr.. Mltchell.-if the stock on hand is
taxed. have five clerks IN my employ TO
each OF whom pay ~ 90 u year. but IN II is
not paid until the ED of the year. Is
Gov. ncnnisOn.-No: should say not. b.
yond The amount due for services up 10 ApriI
Mr.. Given.-If you have no further suoras-
lions 10 make, Governor, the committee viii
relleVe your patience. and | would like Ia
inquire just here whether we are To consider
Your opinions, as expressed upon the points
that have been made, definite, or wouid Won
prefer a conference? / think it woaid be
more agreeable to The committee after Won
gentlemen have bad consultations among
yourselves. that we shOUld have 4 decision
In more formal manner, in order that we
may report 10 our constituents, 50 to speak
Gov. Dennison.-AIr. Chairman We have
no decisions TO make. We have been merely
giving you our general views. When
we complete this schedule, which we
this interview, and make such zen" mo aitgr
cations, n any, as may occur ID US 10
DC only proper and just in the premises, our
duty ends there: we have nothing more 10
do L have said very much more Than |
would have said under different circum-
stances, but did so in the hope of aiding in
renewing the public mind from some of what
we considered misapprehenSiOnSo of the on
preSslve character OF this law. If have sue
ceeded in that, | have done all expected 10
90. We Will consider the various suggestions
tiaI nave been made, and we Will be very
glad 10 see you gentlemen at any time before
the schedules are completed, but Won will
bear IN mind that we have bu: a month i'm
which To have these schedules distriblteI
and returns made.
Mr. Galt.-Ailow me to detain you Just one
moment BE kind enough 10 tell Us the
this schedule.
Gov; DennisOn.-We have no data on which
10 make an estimate.
Mr.. Galt.-YOu have no knowledge what il
yields in Ohio?
Gov. Dennison.-No, sir have not. I can
however, very easily ascertain; but l know
III yields very large sum in Ohio
Mr.. Galt.-It ought To, certainly. You had
no means of knowing anything about this
when the bill was passed?
Gov. DennisOn.-We had nothing before us
showing the amount Of personal property
here, except the returns of 1872
Mr.. Galt.-lt only bears out the genera! inn
preston in this community, that this bill
was Il very unfortunate bill, passed at a very
unfortunate time. 1t seems that the com
mitlee that carried the things through were
unfortunate in having 10 Information upon
winch To pass SO important till. and as we
learn, we 90 not know now much we can get
ON it, or anything about that. We are alto
gether at sea, as far As that is concerned
having no data. l am rather Inclined 10
think that this bill was based upon the re-
turns of personality under the old District
system, when the goods, chattels. and the
ordinary household effects were taxed.
q Mr.. Taylor,-I simply want to ask in the
line of the inquiry of Mr.. Given. our chair
man, when we can have something like a
definite report as TO the schedule, for that
seems TO be the only point within the iuris-
dlctlon Of the Commission. For that purpose
we were appointed by the committee i citi-
Zens, and we are bound to report to that
committee. | suppose upon our report the
CITY, ca fioSSe, or very nearly SO, will act.
Therefore, we would like the Commission TO
give us as early report as they can and i'm
the most definite and positive manner for
we propose TO act definitely and positively