Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-05-24
DIRECT TAXATION.
THEORIES AND FACTS CONCERNING
THE INCOME TAX.

Not More Inqussitorial Than Other Forms
of Collecting Revenue ard Does Not
Make Public Its Inrormatiou-T Fair and
Not Eurdcnsome.
Two principal objections are urged
against an income tax Oue is that it is
inQuisitorial ana the other that ii can
not be collected.
Let us see. The favoritc system of
raising revenue i'll this country is by
tariff duties. The income tax is meant
to take the place of excessive tariff ex-
actions. Is it more iuQuiSitorial than a
system which opens every trunk, eN.
plores the stock of underwear, turns il
out on the dock and compels even re-
fined and delicate women to expose to
rude official gaze the reservations of the
toilet itself?
Is it more inQuisitorial than a system
which plants spies all over Europe and
sends them on board transatlantic steam
ers to worm themselves into and betrav
the confidence of their fellow passengers:
Is it more inquisitorial than system
which claims and exercises the right to
subject even the persons of travellers to
search?
All that an income tax system asks is
an honest report of each mans earnings
over and above exemptions. 1t does not
publish the facts. 1t does not in any
way invade the home, the wardrobe or
the person of the taxpayer.
But the income tax cannot be collect
ed, we are told. Is that fact? 1t was
collected from 1863 to 1870. During
those eight years it yielded revenue to
the government rs follows:
1861. S@,iA,S5S 70
lS0i... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. %o,S4,il "a
Iebo. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, dG,uu,ulu ii
1866. 13,9S2, 1853 %
G6,0l4.i25 81
1865. 4l,45j,59S 50
1869. 34,9l.S59 81
lo'O....... ..........,...,... o',,1,Stl u
During this period the law was sew
eral times changed, usually in ways to
lessen its cxactions, yet i'll each form
that it took it showed u tendency to
produce Il steadily increasing revenue,
though that revenue might be less than
under the preceding and more exigent
law.
Even so crude an income tax law as
that which was i'll force from 1868 to
1870 yielded an average annual revenue
of about $50, 000,0 600, which is just about
the amount now needed to meet the de-
ticiency created by the effort to lessen
the taxes upon the neCessaries of life and
to set manufactures free from the bur-
dens of taxed raw materials.
To say that such tax cannot be col
lected is to deny the facts of history and
to maintain wholly groundless assump-
ton. 1t is also to ignore other facts open
to every mans observation. The major
ity of the incomes to be taxed are per-
fectly easy of ascertainment. The earn
ings of corporations are matters of COM
pulsory record. Taxes assessed upon
dividends will be paid to the last cent.
All great mercantile and manufacturing
enterprises have their results recorded in
systematic book accounts. A great null
titude of those to be taxed receive their
incomes in the form of salaries or wages,
easily ascertainable. 1t is difficult to
conceive of a tax which presents fewer
difficulties of assessment and collection.
1t is the fairest and least burdensome
of all taxes.
1t is UNNECESSARILY less inquisitorial
than are the levies it is meant toreplace.
Finally, it is tax more easily collect
ed upon basis of equity than any other
that is capable of yielding so large a
revenue.-New York World.