Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-02-02
AID VALOREM DUTIES.
WHY WILSON PREFERS THEM TO
SPECIFIC TAXES.

The Latter Are at Variance With the Law
Of Equal Taxation-Enormities Perpe-
trated by the Mckinley Act In the Name
of American Labor.
Next to releasing from taxation the
necessaries of life and the necessaries
Of labor, the most benefcent feature of
the tariff bill is the general substitution
of ad valorem duties for the specific du-
ties of the existing law.
But, even conceding that underval-
uations may and do occur with ad va
Torem duties, it may be answered that
they are not as gross or as hurtful as
the constant and necessary overvalua-
tions carried in any system of specific
duties. That system raises the common
and cheap article to the same level Of
taxation as the better and expensive one.
1t is at fatal variance with the law of
equal taxation, and that variance is all
in the direction of increasing the bur-
dens Of the weak and Tightening the
burdens of the strong. Taxation in
proportion to exact value is not only the
fair mode, but the mode which past ex-
perience shows to be susceptible of hon
est and successful application. Both
under the compromise tariff from 1888
to 1912, and under the Walker tariff
from 1916 to 1861, it was adopted.
From the foundation of the government
it has prevailed in some Of the most
important schedules Of every law. Aft
er 10 years successful trial, under the
tariff of 1888, Mr.. Clay declared it
justly entitled to the preference both In
theory and according to every sound
principle Of justice. Indeed the brief
est examination of the present law will
show that specific duties not only lead
to gross Observation-Disclosures in the di
rection OF overvaluing, for taxation, the
common article-but that they conceal
many Of the enormities Of that law.
| have on my table as [ write two
samples Of wooden pile stuffs, such as
make good and serviceable cloaks or
sacks for working girls abroad, and
which many here would be glad to get.
Under the law Of 1888 they were duti-
able at 50 cents a pound and 80 per
cent ad valorem, making for one sam
pie duty Of 207 per cent, of which 172
per cent was covered by the mild look
ing specific duty Of ''35 cents pound"
and for the other, III per cent, of which
1876 per cent was carried IN this specific
duty. The Mckinley act raised the
duty on these fabrics to 49I cents
pound and 60 per cent ad valorem.
This would make for the first sample
duty of 303 per cent, of which 243 per
cent is imposed by the specific duty,
and for the second sample a duty of
2J3 per cent, Of which 1913 per cent is
likewise imposed. And this in the
name Of American labor.
The poor girl, earning the meager
wages of so cents a day, having by two
days work made enough money to buy
a dollar worth Of this material, would
then have to work six days longer to
earn sufficient to pay the Mckinley
taxes upon it. Those taxes increase the
cost Of the one from 81 79-100 cents to
SIPS, and of the other from Al So
100 cents to $1.58. Under the bill
now proposed the cost of these goods
would be raised to "A and 81 cents re-
spectively. and these duties are to be
lowered one-eighth with the lapse of
five years.
Of course the present rates are pro-
hibitory, and such articles never APP
pear in the tables Of imports, but these
examples serve to show both the work
ing of specific duties on cheap and COM
mon goods and the merciless taxes i'm
posed on the poorest and most defense
less Of our wage earners. No such
enormities could be perpetrated under
any civilized government unless they
were hidden from public detection in
specific duties, and the mere statement
of them is an unanswerable argument
for duties assessed according to actual
value and stated in terms that the sim
plest can understand. William L. Will
son in Forum.