The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-05-02
THAT TAX DECISION.
Text of Chief Justice FuIer's Opinion osS
 the Income Tax.

Text of Chief Justice Fuller's Opinion OD
 the Income Tax.
 WASHINGTON, April 25.-The full text of the opinion of Chief Justice Fuller in the income tax cases recently an- nounced in the supreme court has been made public. The chief justices opin- ion dwells upon the contention of the claimants in the cases Pollard vs. Farmers Loan and Trust Co and Hyde vs. the Continental Trust Col against the constitutionality of the law, and in dissertation upon the matter of taxes within the meaning of the con- stitution, refers to the historical cir cumstances attending the framing and adoption of that instrument, and as to what at the time of that event were recognized as direct taxes.
 Congress" says the chief justice, ''under the articles of confederation, had no actual operative power of taxa tion. It could call upon the states for their respective contributions or quotas as previously determined upon, but in the case of the failure or omission of the state to furnish such contribution, there was no means of compulsion, as congress had no power to lay any tax upon individuals" ...-.
 In the course of his elaborate pro- duction the chief justice says: ''The requirement of the constitution is that no direct tax shall be laid otherwise than by apportionment-the prohibit ton is not against direct taxes on land xyhtoh ha ;o cnnrrht to be drawn that indirect taxes on land would be constitutional, but it is against all direct taxes-and it is ad- mitted that a tax on real estate is direct tax. Unless, therefore, a tax upon rents or income issuing out of lands is intrinsically so different from tax on the land itself that it belongs to a wholly different class of taxes, such taxes must be re- garded as falling within the same cat egory as tax on real estate co nomine. The real question is, is there any basis upon which to rest the contention that real estate belongs to one of the two great classes of taxes, and the rent or income which is the incident of it's ownership belongs to the other? We are unable to perceive any ground for be clearer than that what the consti- tuition intended to guard against was the exercise by the general gov- ernment of the power of directly taxing persons and property within any state through a majority made up from the other states, and we are of the opinion that the law in ques- tion, so far as it levies tax on the rents or incomes of real estate, is in violation of the constitution and is in- valid. The tax on government stocks," the chief justice further cites, lis thought by this court to be tax on the contract, tax on the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States, and consequently to be repugnant to the constitution"
 Upon each of the other questions argued at bar, to-wit: Whether the void provisions as to rents and income from real estate invalidate the whole act; whether as to the income from personal property, as such, the act is unconstitutional as laying direct tax; whether any part of the tax, if not considered as direct tax, is invalid for want of uniformity on either of the grounds suggested-the justices who held the argument are equally divided, and, therefore, no opinion is ex- pressed. ...
 The result is that the decree of the circuit court is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to enter decree in favor of the complainant in respect only of the voluntary payment of the tax on the rents and income of the real estate of the defendant capital, and of that which it holds in trust, and on the income from the municipal bonds owned or so held bv it.