The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-11-25
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PTEF TA YES IN GREAT BhI-
IARIFF IdAEp I1IH -
TAIN.

L N... .N Do ~.
The English, after having violated Tor
a long time every one Of these four iun-
damental principles, now at length levy
their tariff taxes in strict accordance
with them, / quote from the Monthly
Report Of the Bureau Of Statistics OF the
United States for December, 1872, the
following facts: All tariff duties IN
Great Britain, are levied under nlne
heads, as follows;-I. Tobaccos; 2, Su'
gars; 3. Tea, Coffee, Chickory and Co.
Goa; a. Spirits; S. Wines; g. Dried
Fruits; 7. Malt Products; 8. Table
Ware; 9. Playing Cards. The taxes on
these are all specific, that is, by the
pound, gallon, dozen, and so on, so that
anybody can calculate them They are
laid on things exclusively imported; or,
whenever they are not, as in the case o.
spirits and malt, corresponding excise
tax is put on the domestic product, SO
that the government gets all that the
people are compelled to pay as the re-
suit of the tarih-taXes; and while the
duties in some cases may be said to be
high, they are not SO high in any case as
to discourage the importation OF the
things on which they are laid. There IS
no tariff tax on any portion of the food
Of people, except sugars; no tariff tax on
any article of clothing; and no tariff tax
on any raw materials or implements OF
production. This tariff of Great Britain,
which can almost be written on the
palm of ones hand, yielded in the fiscal
year 1872, SOL $4,000 Of revenue,
which was $500 for each man, woman
and child in the United Kingdom. 1t
there are to be tariffs at all, this is the
only form of tariff that even ap7
proaches towards justice and equality.
Taxes on stimulants. on sugar, which
yield almost the whole of the British
customs revenue, are as uneXceptiona-
BILE as any taxes on commodities can
be, because everybody uses them IN
some form, and because it is optional
with everybody how much Of them they
shall use. But we shall see that there is
a more excellent way of taxation than
this. lH1 |". '"- i''' N"' '4A ..
I.,.. THE ONLY JUST TAXATION. .,u .
The only Just taxation is the taxation
of incomes, because the net annual in
come is the exact gains of ones ex-
changes for the year; and as one can
only pay his taxes out of the gains Of
his exchanges, the taxes ought to be
proportionate to those gains. In a
country organized as this is, in which
there are municipal, state and national
taxes, the local authorities ought to as
certain land they would surely be able
to ascertain) the net income of every
person within their limits; and taxing
this income a certain fraction for local
purposes, then report it to the state for
another fraction of state taxation and
then the state, reporting incomes to the
nation, would be the medium, through
its local officers, of collecting the third
fraction for national purposes. Under
thi plan one set of local officers could
gather all three kinds of taxes at one
time in the cheapest possible way; Gus
tom houses and national revenue off
GERS with all their political abuses and
pecuniary corruptions, could be abol-
ished it would make no difference
where the property was located, whether
in ones state or elsewhere, or whence
the income was drawn, whether from
commodities or services, or credits, "a
man. S domicile would mark the place Of
his taxation, and he would be taxed
throughout in proportion to his income.
The more you think about this scheme,
the better you will like it, and the fewer
objections and more excellencies you
will see in it; but l have no expectation
of seeing it adopted in my day, because
habits and prejudices are against it; po-
litical parties could make nothing out Of
it, and personal aggrandizements would
have no chance in connection with it.
The towns, counties, and states will
probably continue to raise their taxes on
real estate and corporations; and the ma
ton will long continue to raise its reve-
nue. by excise and by tariff.-Ettyatt
from Lecture by Prof. A.L.1 Perry Of
Williams College, 'r .'"" y"