Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-11-03
PoWDERLY ON THE TARIFF TAX.

He Shows the Evils of the Protective Sys-
tem-The Consumer Pays the Tax.
There are hundreds of persons in this
country laboriously engaged in a vain
endeavor to convince the American peo-
pie that the tariff is not tax, and the
most plausible argument they can bring
to their aid is that the tariff, not coming
direct from the pockets of the people, is
not so noticeable or so burdensome as
though it We're paid in cents, dimes and
dollars directly from them. That sum
paid on an article over and above the
cost of production and legitimate ex
change is tax. Some call it profit.
But it stands as q fixed fact that the
consumer is taxed to yield a profit to
the producer, or, more accurately speak
ing, the manufacturer.
A manufactured article, passing
through port of entry, paying a duty
of ten or twenty cents as protection to
the industries of the country it enters,
must sell for ten or twenty cents more
than if that tariff had not been levied.
1t matters not that the foreign maker
must pay the extra ten or twenty cents
to secure admittance for his wares, the
consumer must also pay that, or a
greater sum, in addition to the price of
the article which he buys. 1t makes
but little difference whether it is called
duty, q tariff or protection fee, the
consumer is taxed to pay it, or we do
not know what tax is.
1t is not with the tariff or the principle
of protection that we now take issue; it
is with the principle of deception that is
practiced ON the people when they are
told that this duty, tariff or protection
fee, being indirectly paid, is not felt to
be hardship or so onerous as though it
came direct from their own pockets. In
plain Anglo-Saxon it means that if the
people can be taxed indirectly, or with
out being told that they are being taxed,
they will not know it, or if they do know
it they will not mind it, the sum being
so insignificant.
The advocacy of this principle presup-
poses ignorance and indifference on the
part of the people. And right here is
where the danger lies. Where the people
pay taxes directly, knowing what they
are paid for, they are careful enough to
follow the matter up and ascertain to
what use the money is put. Each tax
payer in the municipality and county is
certain to inquire into the why and
wherefore of every increase in his taxes.
He knows he is being taxed, and he de-
sires to know why. He makes it his
business to know what is done with the
money. 1t is not so with the tariff or
indirect taxation, and the consequence is
that the same vigilance and caution is
not exercised by public officials in caring
for the peoples money.
No more fruitful source of corruption
or dishonesty can be found than that
which lies concealed beneath the very
plausible and innocent looking scheme
of taxing the people in an indirect and
roundabout manner. Indirect taxation
In all its forms should give way to the
practical, businesslike and honest meth
cd of collecting taxes directly from the
people. Then they will be more apt to
take a deeper interest in the question of
taxation; they will know what they
pay for, and will pay for what they get
and no more.-T. V. Powderly in Labor
Day Issue of Journal of United Labor.