The Globe-republican., 1894-01-12
A QUESTION OF REVENUE.

A QUESTION OF REVENUE.
Deuoeratic Schemes 70 Replace tho Loss
Occasioned BY Tariff Reductieoa.
1t looks now as if Mr.. Cleveland COM
mitted q double blunder when he an
nounced in his message that the ways
and means committee had agreed to re-
port an income tax. OF course, every
one knew that the broad statement
was absolutely incorrect The ways
and means committee, as an official
body, had not even considered the
proposition. What the president meant
to say or intimate was that the demo-
cratic members of the committee had
determined upon such q measure in a
secret caucus But there are reasons
for believing that he was also mistaken
in this assertion or intimation. Even
at this day nothing appears to have
been settled concerning the matter.
This is apparent from what has oc-
Cured in the ways and means committee
While the tariff bill was up for discus
sion ex-Speaker Reed offered q resolu-
ton reciting that as it was shown that
under the proposed bill the revenue
would be reduced some seventy million
dollars, it would be desirable that the
committee should be informed in what
way this deficiency was to be met
Chairman Wilson replied that the short
age would be made up by internal
revenue taxation, but that the
schedules were not yet completed. Mr..
Reeds resolution was laid on the table
by party vote.
1t is apparent, then, that Mr.. Cleve-
land was too hasty in proclaiming the
action of the committee. In fact, there
are those who say that he and Chair
man Wilson, and perhaps Mr.. Carlisle,
were the only persons who had deter
mined upon the income tax, and that
there had been no agreement even
among the democratic members of the
committee when the message was sent
in. At any rate. it looks very much as
if Mr.. Cleveland and MIR. Wilson DELHI
erately attempted to forestall the action
of the committee and of the house
They appear to have thought that if
they could make the income tax propo-
sition an administration measure they
could force it through
1t would not be at all surprising if
the tax should be abandoned in the
committee. or rather by the democratic
members. We do not make the predic-
ton. but certain it is that the demo-
Gratis are very uneasy about the mat
ter. When the majority of the commit
fan mt <al hrv -
resolution Chairman Wilson talked
vaguely about making up the deficit by
internal revenue taxation and about
the schedules not being completed,
but not n word concerning an income
tax.
PROFESSIONALLY the taxation of in
comes is the most obnoxious and I'M
popular form of taxation ever tried in
this country. The argument that the
government has no right to pry into the
private affairs of every citizen, which
is essential to the collection of such a
tax, is familiar to every one The plan
first proposed, to confine the tax to
corporations. was interded to avoid
this objection, but the manifest in
justice of such discrimination and
perhaps the certainty that the imita-
ton would decrease the receipts to such
an extent as to defeat the measure,
have apparently led the managers to
change the scheme. At any rate, the
latest suggestion from the committee
was that the tax would be levied upon
allincomes exceeding four thousand dol
lars year.
But this proposition has aroused a
storm of Indignation throughout the
country; not from the republicans
alone, but from the independent press
and from many democratic papers and
politicians The New York Herald has
made a feature of collecting the opin-
ions of prominent business and public
men. With one voice they denounce
the tax. Even from business centers
in the south, from Louisville. Charles.
ton and such places, come protests.
The president and Mr.. Wilson NAV
bring the bill in and they may dragon
the house into passing it, but before
they succeed in making it popular
measure. except. perhaps, among the
non-taxpaying portion of the COM
munity, they will have to discover some
way to revolutionize public opinion re-
garding the matter.-San Francisco
Chronicle.