The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-12-11
An Income TAX.

~ 6ny pretty nearly as wei DilndtOlQ
stranger and lead him from business es-
adjustment to business establishment
to assess our taxes and expect justice,
as to expect that rare thing from our
present system or what we call our
system. As at present managed the
assessment is guess work when it is not
good deal worse. The rich escape
the payment Of taxes, as We have
already noticed, sometimes through
bribery, sometimes through perjury,
and often because the assessor is
willing to favor wealth on general prin-
ciples. Many suggestions have been
made for the correction of this great
evil, and most of them are practical
but they seem radical, and the change
that most Of them would make is too
great an innovation upon what We are
accustomed to, for US to hope for their
adoption. But an income tax is not of
this character. 1t has been tried in
this country, and during its continuance
it gave very good satisfaction to all
except those whom it justly pinched.
It is not the man who is paying bis
taxes honestly and willingly, who is
now objecling to an income tax. It is
the man who shirks his taxes that does
not like it; lit is the rich with large in
comes and the press that assumes the
Office Of defending capital in about all
that it demands. There is no claim
that tbs system of taxation would work
with exact justice. 1t is almost i'm
possible to conceive of system that a
man who was sufficiently conscience
less could not beat under some circum-
stances, But there is no question that
the assessor could ascertain, if he wish
ed, pretty nearly what the income Of .
man Of wealth and large business estab-
lishment was. The books Of concern
would show this, and even general APP
pearances would more accurately deter
mine the amount Of taxes that citizen
should pay than can be determined
under our present methods. No really
intelligent patriotic citizen desires to
favor any system which will enable
even poor man--as men are now
judged in regard to their financial
condition-to escape his just taxes.
The farmer should pay his taxes SO far
as justice demands it, and he should
pay no more than justice demands.
There is plenty Of wealth in this coun-
try to sustain the government. The
nation has an accumulated capital of
sixty billions of dollars. Who owns
this wealth? Whoever does is far more
interested in sustaining government
to protect it than the owner of a hun
dred and sixty acres is snterested in
maintaining government to protec,
his farm. There certainly is no wisdom
in depriving men of single dollar foI
the support Of government, if by SC
doing it will deprive them Of the means
of living as industrious men have the
right to live. This is not the age OF
the country to tax men to death for the
support of government. This is moi
the time or the nation to practically say
as Cardinal Woolsey said, that the re-
fusal Of some men to pay taxes may
cost some of them their heads. Per-
sonal taxation is not in favor in this
country. But few Of our States have
what 10 called poll tax. But oul
theory is, after all, that it is the man
who must pay taxes even ii he 60 to
the poor house the next day. He may
not have made enough on his farm OF
in his workshop the previous year to
buy cheap red flannel shirt, but he
must pay taxes if he owns farm or a
humble home or chair and a bedstead.
We pretend to deny that this is our
theory. We pretend that we tax prop.
erty and not the individual and that is
what we ought TO do. There is no
sense in taxing man when he abso-
lutely needs all his money to keep him
from starvation and to educate his fam
lily. To tax him to sustain the aims
house while we do the best we can to
start him toward the almshouse, is
extreme folly.
It is property.wealth that should
sustain government, and there is no
way cfso surely reaching wealth for
this purpose as to lay the tax on in
comes. Experience ia this country
has proved this. When the income
tax was abolished 10 the United States
there we're comparatively few who were
paying such tax and yet the aegre-