Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1894-04-27
THE TAXATION QUESTION.
Under tho Present system the Poor Pa
More Taxes Than the Rich, why:


Under tho Present system the Poor Pay
More Taxes Than the Rich, why:
Senator Voorhees, in the course of his
remarks in the senate the other day on
the Wilson bill said:
ION all the wants and necessaries of
life the man OF wealth, with heavy in
come. pays less rates of tariff tax under
existing laws than the laboring man or
laboring woman whose wearing apparel
is OF coarser material and whose house,
hold living is supplied with cheaper
goods bearing higher rates of duty. His
bonds, his accumulated riches of all
kinds, and all incomes arising from them,
are exempt from all government burdens,
remaining not only undiminished and
unmolested amidst darkened homes
and fragrant distress, but grow
ing latter, stronger and more defiant as
the days and the years go by. He who
has spent his life in making an amass-
ment OF wealth looks out upon the poor,
tired, toiling world as If from fortified
castle. He feels himself sumptuously
provisioned against all wants, and amply
protected against all contact or concern
with the labor-stained millions who
struggle from one ocean to the other for
"Sir, for no earthly consideration
would l paint an unjust or overweight
picture Of the dangerous pretensions
and intolerable arrogance Of accumu-
lated wealth now manifest in this coun
try, but, speaking in the fear Of my
Maker l devoutly believe that the limit
OF endurance has been reached that the
time has come for test to be made be-
tween the power of boarded money and
the power OF productive labor that the
people from this time forward, more than
ever before, will organize and take
rapid and heroic measures against the
continued and brutal dictation of the
plutocracy, against the paramount influ-
ence of wealth, against the rule and gu
premacy of the rich in shaping the finan-
cial policy of this government in their
own interest.
"Let no man imagine or lay the fatter-
ing JUNCTION to his soul, that party names
or party ties will bind the American peo-
pie on this question, or compel their sub.
mission to the financial servitude sought
to be fastened on them by the power Of
colossal wealth. And when the contest
comes, as it will speedily, and in many
ways and forms, the bankers, money
changers, usurers and possessors Of mil
lions who have provoked it, will stand
aphast at the consequences of their own
folly; they will fguratively If not liter
ally, cry out for the rocks and hills to
hide them from the wrath OF an outraged
people. A 2 per cent tax on portion
Of their incomes will appear, in the hour
of reckoning, very small and trifiing
matter compared to others more serious.
But unto that day now near at hand re-
NIT the further discussion OF what it may
bring forth, and proceed with the point
Immediately in hand
"In considering an income tax the most
extraordinary and startling. fact we dis
cover is the very email number of people
to whom it applies. l well remember
when the able Senator from Colorado (Mr
Teller in 1890 declared on this floor that
while the population of the United States
would at that time reach 65 ,000, 900, YET
at least one-half Of the entire wealth 'o
this, the richest country on the globe,
was owned by not more than 100, 900 o.
its inhabitants. The wealth Of the worlG
has in all ages been condensed into the
hands of the privileged and favored few
who thereby seek to become the govern
ing class and this has been more espe
, cially true and striking during the las
thirty wears in this country than in any
other known to history.
"The Commissioner of Internal Rev
enue in a recent communication to thu
WAYS and Means Committee Of the HOUSE
estimates the present population Of thu
United States at not less than 65 900, 900
8 and the wealth of the country at $85 900,
, 600 900, or an average of 81 900 per cap
> tia, if there was an equal distribution
, His further, estimate however, is tina
SO great has been the condensation O
!, capital into the ownership of small ant
powerful class that the tax here proposes
; on incomes of over 81 900 will reach onl
about S3 900 individuals and corporation
out of more than So, 10000 who now in
habit this land of boasted liberty an
, equality. Sir, these figures may wel
! give the country pause. They recall tn
, worst days Of Rome, and OF other govern
J ments, both ancient and modern, who's
> liberties were lost by the accumulate
! and power of wealth in the hands OF pa
, trician aristocracies.