New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-22
INCOMES NATIONAL AND PRIVATE.

The Committee on WAYS and Means las
determined to report in favor of a large re-
duction of the tax on tobacco and cigars, and
the imposition of a tax on incomes. by
what road the committee has reached
this resolution we are not informed.
The proposal to reimpOse the hateful
and unequal income tax has hitherto
been defended on the plea that the Govern
ment is in need of money to balance its ac-
counts. But such plea can I've urged no longer.
The reduction of the Internal Revenue duty on
tobacco is certain to diminish the National re-
celpts by much more than there can be
any hope of increasing them through
tax on incomes; and as net result
of the scheme of the committee 1t Is
estimated that there will be an increased
deficiency of about two and a half millions.
This, ii seems to us, Is very moderate eStl-
mate 1t does not take account of the pros
trat1on of weak business houses which must
follow the cxaction of an income tax at time
like this. Trade and manufactures are III
critical condition. During the past three years
they have undergone extraordinary trials
now at last our merchants and mlll-owncrs
begin to see the dawn of returning prosperity
for which they have waited so long; but most
of them are in that precarOus state where a
tax more or less means either fortune or rum.
During the war, when money was made easily
and fast, business men bore with an IN
come tax, not patiently mdeed-nObody could
do that-but without grave injury to their
affairs. Now, however, when profits are slow
small, and uncertain, and the gains Of one
wear are so often needed to balance the
4 A. ,,1lv admits Of a Ipuhf
that tax of this sort will crush thousands
who are just able to stand without It, and no
more-just able to stand and watch for better
days.
We have called it an unequal tax. There
are two classes Of persons who never pay
their rightlul share of 1t, namely, rogues and
farmers The experience Of our own country
proves that dishonest persons can easily cVadc
the payment of a large proportion of such a
tax; and as there is no process discOverable
by which an assessor can ascertain what
mans actual income is unless he chooses
to reveal it, nor what deductions he
can properly make for bad debts etc,
the temptation to fraud, false swearing, and
all sorts of mean evasiOns, is a constant source
of public decentralization. In the towns, there
fore, an income tax works incalculablc mis-
chief. But in the agricultural regions 1t Is
scarcely felt The farmer raises all that he
needs for his own support. His beef his
mutton, his bread, his potatoes, are the
product of his own lands. In many cases
ne grows even the materials of most OF his
homcspun garments. Thus he can own a
large and productive estate and live i'll plenty,
and at the end of the year he can return no
taxable income, while his poorer neigh
Dor, the sh0pkceper, not being able
to eat calico and tenpenny mails,
must buy all his food, and pay a
tax of two per cent on every dollar Of his
butchers and bakers bills. This is gross
oppression Of one class of citizens for the BEN
eft of another
There is no reason in the world either for
! imposing this tax or for reducing the tax
on tobacco except to please Southern and
! Western men, who hope by such expedients
to throw entirely upon the East the burdens
which the whole country ought to bear to-
gether. We hope there is too much justice in
! Congress and too keen an appreciation OF the
love of fair play which distinguishes the
American people to consent to so fragrant a