Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-07

having only two sides was al the very. l.,
heXagonaL Apparently so simple, il IS in
reality he said, highly complex mixing
itself up with questions of protection and
free trade. penal laws, public and prsva te
lnorallty, facility of raising revenue eu,Iity
OF imposition, inequality Of payment, com.
munism, conStitutionaiity, and many otba,
collateral topics too numerous to name -
Inc speaker said that the experience of the
United States under an income tax was
limited to the term of the civil war and
hve years that followed The experience
or other nations with income taxes had
been much more prolonged. He cited the
hscal experience of England as chiefly vain.
able. because il represented a people inde.
pendent and jealous of prescription and
private rights, yet submitting for half a
century to a kind of taxation denounced
here. as of all others. the most inuuisitor-
ial. He reviewed the history of this snecias
OF taxation in England. and told of the inn
mense advantage it had been to the En-
glish treasury
In Germany, Mr.. Spofford said, where the
tax is levied by each state constitutinf, the
empire and not by the imperial government
which was supported by customs duties
the income tax was in successful opera
tlon.s In Austria-Hungary the income tax
had existed during the last hundred wears
| except from 1879 to 1919 In Italy the rate
OF the income tax was l. per cent on all
Incomes derived from any source whatever
except lands and buildings. In Switzerland
the income tax was based upon the prin-
clple lald down as an economic canon. that
all persons must contribute to the burdens
OF the state in proportion to the means al
their disposal.
The Objections Considered
Let us consider" said Mr.. Spofford. 1.-THE
objections used against tax upon incomes
in their order. First, it is inquisitorfal; but
Is 1t any more inquisitorial than the tax
on personal property in all the states?
Every system of direct taxation necessi-
tates inquiry into the possessions of the
taxpayer upon which the tax is to be levied
An income tax is no more inquisitorial than
all customs revenue taxes which reauira an
oath TO be taken as to the value of the i'm
ports. Every man who lands here from a
foreign county has to undergo a scrutiny
as TO what IN brings with him far roora
lnquiSitorial than is involved in the levin .
or an income tax
second, 1t is an arbitrary tax? If Con-
sfesS can take per cent, why not 10 ner
cent or loo per cent, and sweep into the
golfers of the government all the pronerf,,
OF an individual? This argument is eGiaIly
VaId against all taxation whatever since
an taxes are and must be arbitrary Are
not customs house taxes levied 10 tbe
amounts of 30, 50, 100 per cent and in ey-
IRENE cases even 300 per cent?
Ihlrd The tax is unequal in its OPERA
IONS, exempting moderate incomes entirely
ana laying the whole burden upon thoss
above a certain amount. But ii is the very
ann OF taxes upon wealth to exempt in
oustrial classes and professional incomes
Whlch Ole with their possessor, and to levy
an income tax upon Accommodations produc-
ing large and superfiuous Incomes. Its
alleged inequalities disappear when we con-
slider that the classes exempted bear the
burdens of taxation to a sufficient degree
IN other ways. Every consumer, rich or
poor, pays tariff taxes on consumption. and
these bear so heavily on the wages of labor
as to justify us in exempting Industrial
earnings from further tax
Fourth An income tax is socialistic in
tendencies and involves class legislat ion
which Is always unjust. This is already
met by the statement that the customs tax-
from which two-thirds of our national
revenue Is derived, constitutes a far more
obnoxious class legislation that inheres in
any income tax. however severe The
iaboring classes probably pay more than