The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-04-25
TEXT OF THAT DECISION
II Was Made Public Yesterday and Here
Is lis Substance.
BY CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER
self Taxation Constitutes the Main
security Against Oppression
AS to Direct and In
direct TAX.

opiniou OF Ontet dustlce ruler IN the IN
come case, which was delivered en- the
eighth INST, was made public to-day. The
opinion is preceded by an elaborate re-
view OF the history of the case. The
opinion proper is introduced with the
statement: The constitution provides
that representative and direct taxes shall
be apportioned among the several states
according TO numbers, and that no direct
tax shall be laid. except according to the
enumeration provided; and also that all
duties, imposts and excuses shall be uni
form throughout the United States"
The men, says the opinion, who framed
the constitution had just emerged from
the struggle for independence, whose
railying cry had been that "taxation and
representation 90 together" The mother
country had taught the colonists that self
taxation constituted tho main security
against oppression. The states were
careful to see that the taxation and rep
resentation should go together, SO the
sovereignty should not be impaired aud
that when congress voted tax upon prop
erty IL should do so with the conscious
ness and under the responsibility that in
SO doing the tax 80 voted would proper
tionately fall upon the immediate con-
stituents of those who passed IL. More
than this, by the constitution, tho states
not only gave the nation the concurrent
power TO tax persons and property di-
rectly, but they surrendered their own
power to levy taxes on imports and to
regulate commerce. In the matter of
taxation the constitution says tho two
great classes of direct and indirect taxes
and lays down the two rules by which
their imposition must be governed,
namely: The rule of apportionment as to
direct taxes and the rule of uniformity as
to duties, imports and excises.
BY far the greater part of tho opinion is
devoted to the consideration of the ques-
tion whether the tax on rents is direct
tax within the meaning of the con stitu-
ton. "Ordinarily," said the chief justice,
"all taxes paid primarily by persons who
can shift the burden on some one else, OF
who are under no legal compulsion to pay
them, are considered indirect taxes but a
tax upon property holders in respect to
their estates, whether real or personal, or
of the income yielded by such estates,
and the payment OF which cannot be
avoided. are direct taxes"
Various authorities are quoted at con-
siderable length to show the process of
the compromise by which the convention
oCAOkatCu " COukTCoS tuo BOWtT 10 TAX
the various states was arrived at, and the
chief justice adds: "The compromise, in
embracing the power of direct taxation,
consisted not simply in including part of
the slaves in the enumeration of popula-
tion, but in providing that as between
state and state, such taxation should be
proportioned to representation. Many
quotations are also made for the purpose
of demonstrating that the right of our
government directly assesses and collects
its own taxes at least until after requisi-
tions upon the states had been made aud
failed, was one of the chief points of con-
fiict."
Discussing the Hilton case, SO fre-
quently referred to, in which the supreme
court in 1795 decided that n tax on car
riages was not direct tax, the chief JUS
tice says each of the justices, while sug-
gesting doubt whether anything but a
of a land tax was n direct tax
within the meaning of the constitution,
avoided expressing an opinion
upon that question or laying down a COM
prehensive definition. but confined his
opinion to the case before their court.
The acts of July IA. 18i8, and of Aug. 8,
1861, arc reviewed, after which the follow
ing propositions are laid down:
First-That the distinction between di-
rect and indirect taxation was well under
stood by the trainers of the constitution
and those who adopted it.
Second-That under the state system
of taxation all taxes on real estate or per-
sonal property or the rents or incomes
thereof were regarded as direct taxes.
Third-That the rules of apportionment
and uniformity were adopted in view of
that distinction and those systems.
Fourth-That whether the tax on car
riages was direct or indirect was dis
puted, but the tax was sustained as a tax
on the use and an excise.
Fifth-That tho original expectation
was that the power OF direct taxation
would be exercised only in extraordinary
cxigencies. and down to Aug. Is, 1894, this
expectation has been realized. The act
OF that date was passed in a time of pro-
found peace. and IL we assume no special
called for unusual legislation
and that resort to this mode of taxation is
to become an ordinary and usual means
Of supply, that fact furnishes an addi-
tional reason for circumspection and care
Of disposing OF the case.
The opinion here reviews numerous de-
cisions under the act of 1861, including
lied upon by counsel for the government
in the present cases to sustain them.
Chief Justice Fuller says: at Is conceded
in all these cases, from that OF Hilton to
that of Springer, that taxes on land are |
direct taxes. aud in none OF them is il de- |
that taxes on rents or income |
derived from land are not taxes on
and"
Summing nm the chief iustice savs
among other things: "The requirement
% the constitution Is that no direct tax |
shall be laid otherwise than by apportion- |
ment. The prohibition is not against di- |
rect taxes on land from which the impll- |
,ation is sought to be drawn that indirect |
axes on land would be constitutional, |
md Is against all direct taxes, and il is |
a tax on real estate is n direct |
TAX. Unless, therefore, a tax upon rents |
or incomes issuing out of lands is intrin- |