The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-05-18
THE INCOME TAX.

Il
NJ. G. A. rooms Tuesday. The at
tendance was not as large as had been
hoped for the final meeting, which
was probably due to the extreme hot
weather and the fact that a number
of members were otherwise engaged
for the evening. The year has been
very pleasant and profitable one to
the members and the interest in the
welfare OF the club is probably greater
than at any previous time. The paper
| last evening was read by Mr.. w. ID.
Willard, on the subject Of 'The In
come Tax" During the past year
and half Mr.. Willard has devoted
considerable time to the study of the
question of taxation, and his paper
upon this feature Of that subject was
very interesting as well as instructive.
More than this he is strong advocate
OF the income tax, believing it's prin
ciple to be the correct one in the mat
| ter OF taxation, so that his paper was
devoted entirely to favorable con-
sideration of the question and did not
deal upon any objections which might
be brought against it.
He had chosen his subject, he said.
with a view Of treating it as zone of
the parts Of the system of state and
local taxation" His idea had been
that taxes for local purposes should
be derived from real estate only and
that no tax should be levied thereon
for any other purpose; that the reve-
nues OF the state should be derived
from personal property and incomes,
and that finally personal property
should be dropped and graduated
and progressive inheritance tax sub
stituted. This he said was perfectly
feasible ''aS the states share of the
general tax is practically equal to the
total revenue derived from personal
property, and this $2,0O0,OOO per year
could be very satisfactorily obtained
by the inheritance and income tax. !"
But the fact that the income of Min
nesota from railroads, telegraph, in
surance and other special sources was
increasing SO fast that an income tax
was not needed, he decided to treat it
only from a federal standpoint.
He started out with three PROPOSE
tiOns, first, that tax on incomes
fairly assessed is a just and proper
tax. Second, that it has been tried
and proven by experience to be a prac-
tical, successful and advantageous
method of taxation, and third, that
there are abundant and excellent rea-
sons for it's incorporation into our
national system. He then quoted
Adam Smiths "Canons of Taxation, -
to the effect that the subjects of every
state ought to contribute to the sup
port Of its government in proportion
to their respective abilities; that the
amount for each person should be GER
tain and not arbitrary in amount :;
that it should be levied at time and
manner most convenient to the tax
payer, and that as little as possible
should be taken out of the pockets of
the payer.
In view of this outline he did not
think there was any tax which theo-
retically or practically fulfilled the
requirements as well as the income
tax He then discussed the human
itarian relation of other taxes to these
canOnS in contrast with their relation
to the income tax. Real estate taxes,
customs excuses, stamp duties, ETC.,
he said, were not levied with any con-
sideratiOn whatever as to the final
ability OF the tax payer to pay, while
he declared that "customs and inter-
nal revenue taxes bear on the poorer
classes out of all proportion to their
comparative ability to pay" Being
indirect, they were so concealed that
it could not be said with certainty
who did pay them, hence he found
they tranSgreSSed the canOns laid
down by Adam Smith. He also found
in favor of the income tax that it
cOmprehended a mans ability to pay
by being the heaviest when he was
the most successful and the lightest
when disaster came upon him. Again
he found it cheap tax to collect.
''The income tax of our own eXpe-
rience," he said, "cost to collect but
1.S per cent against 20 per cent inter-
nal revenue and 3.S per cent for Gus
TOMS" Properly adjusted it has alb
solutely no influence on trade or
prices: it could not be shifted by the
strong to the shoulders of the weak: it
is elastic and could be easily changed
to the needs of the government and
would not leave startling deficit or
pile up dangerous surplus; it would
promote better citizenship and call
into politics the very class of people
who today neglect them, for if they
pay their money they are interested
in the way it is spent. The hatred of
bod hoan al, NV