St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-02
THE INCOME TAX.


of Senator Hill, backed by all the power
of the moneyed aristocracy of the East.
The income tax provision of the tariff
bill has been approved by the senate.
Less interest has been taken by the
general public in this measure than in
almost any other of the leading features
of the bull. The tax proposed affected but
few citizens. The exemption was large,
so that not one in a hundred of our
people would be called upon to pay
tribute to the government. Those
legitimately entitled to pay have so
many ways of eyading the law that they
were little disturbed, resting sereneiy
in the consciousness that they would DE
able to devise methods for escaping the
burden. The law will practically be
dead letter, for it will cost the govern
ment more to collect the tax than the
tax will amount to.
While the theory Of an. income tax is
equitable, in practice it is the most de-
muraliZing of all means of raising reve-
nue.. Men will avoid its payment by
every means at their command. They
will first seek Investments i'll govern
ment bonds, the interest upon which is
exempt by law from taxation. They
Will then transfer their productive
property to their wives and minor chill
dren, who may not be called upon to
make returns. AS a last resort they
will falsify their returns to the assess
ors, and swear to the lie without the
slightest compunctions of conscience.
1t is not creditable to the honesty of the
race, but it Is nevertheless true that
men who are honorable and upright in
everything else are dishonorable and
dishonest when dealing with the tax
gatherer, and they are seldom censured
by their fellows because of it.
Fortunately the terms of the law limit
its existence to the present century. In
1900 it will expire. But meantime much
injury will be done The moral sense
OF the community will be degraded and
enmities engendered that will last for
decades, while the country will receive
no compromising benefits. 1t is claimed
by the advocates of the measure that it
will produce revenue of about $40, OO0,-
000.. This is doubtless exaggerated. But
to enforce it we will require myriad of
additional officials, whose salaries, office
rent and other expenses will consume
nearly, if not quite, the whole amonnt.
| These officials will be added to the
already large army Of n-producers,
| and it will be found difficult to get rid
| of them, even after their offices shall
have lapsed. They will continue to
| hover about, eager for chance to
| snatch a few dollars from the public
| crib, and refusing to enter the ranks of
| the active workers aud producers of
I wealth. There is peculiar fas-
cination for the majority of men
for public office, no matter
how humble the position. Few of them,
| having once been in the public employ,
are ever content elsewhere. They are
constant applicants for something, and
| If they fail of their ambition they not
infrequenuy become confirmed yaga-
bonds, lingering around our public
places, bemoaning the ingratitude of
their fellows and subsisting upon the
droppings of the charitable. In every
large city there are scores and hundreds
of these men. From their ranks the
professional jurymen proceed; from
among them the ward strikers are Sc
lected; in this horde each political party
finds men capable of any dirty work,
from repeating to buIldozing, from the
theft of ballots to the forgery OF returns
1t is greatly to be feared that mis-
take has been made in imposing this