The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-31
TAXING THE PEDDLERS.
The Consumer Pays the Taxes-Indi-
rect and Direct Taxation.

! The demand of the retailers for the
taxation of peddlers shows how willing
people are to use the taxing power of
government to protect themselves from
| competition. 1t is the application of
the pernicious theory of protection
to local business, and it is quite as I'M
just and burdensome in its local, as in
its national application. l don't blame
anybody for trying to get his business
! protected from what he considers un-
equal competition. have no doubt the
printers of Salt Lake would be glad to
have protection against the competi-
ton of eastern printing offices by tax
ing them on all work sent here Our
merchants probably would not object to
protection against the mail order de-
partments of eastern concerns. They
have quite as good grounds for calling
upon the taxing power of government
TO give them protection as have the
retailers OF Salt Lake to make like
demand against the peddlers.
Few people seem to realize that it is
the consumer who in nearly every case
pays all the taxes. This is the worst
feature of indirect taxation. William
/
TO levy a direct tax of Z per cent
is a dangerous experiment in a free
country, and may excite revolt; but
there is method by which you can
tax the last rag from THE back and the
last bite from the mouth without caus-
ing murmur against high taxes; and
that is to tax a great many articles of
daily use and necessity so indirectly
that the people will pay them and not
know it, Their grumbling then will be
of hard times, but they will not know
that the hard times are caused by tax
ation''
1t is the laboring classes that bear
the chief burden of taxation, but the
stealthy manner in which taxes are
flched from their pockets gives rise
to the conviction that they contribute
nothing to the support of government
1t is this impression that gives plausi-
bility to the occasional advice of veal
thy men that the poor should be dis
franchised in municipal elections or in
special elections, where appropriations
of money are to be made They saw
they pay ltttle or no taxes into the
treasury and ought therefore to have
no voice in municipal expenditures.
Yet little examination will show
that the ultimate consumers bear the
ultimate burden of taxation This is
especially so in times like these. when
competition is keen and goods are sold
close. A tax upon merchants. whether
IN the form of a license or a regular
levy upon a certain valuation. is an
indirect tax, and is as much a part of
the expense Of doing business as are
freight charges, insurance, labor and
rent 1t must be added to the price of
the goods and be paid by the consum-
er of them. And not only does the
Gunner pay the taxes of the mer-
chant but also those of the manufac-
turer, wholesaler and jobber These pay
their taxes Through the goods they con-
sumo.
SO when workingman hires apart
ments portion of the house tax adds
itself to what the rent would otherwise
be. When he buys goods at the store
a long series of taxes with the profits
added are kneaded into the price. In
stead of adding to the amount of in
direct taxes the poor have TO pay. we
should rather decrease it. Instead of
putting tax upon peddlers and either
driving them out of business or rails
ing the price of their goods to the con-
sumner, the business license should he
taken off the merchant. Whatever adj
vantage the peddler now has over the
retailer irf price or convenience is reap
ed by the consumer. Why should not
the 10000 consumers be considered
quite as much as the thirty or forty
retailers? But 1T is always the case
that when the subject of protection
is up it is considered from the stand
point of the producer or the seller
never from that of the consumer >or
buyer. The reason is plain. The for
mer are directly affected; they are
smaller in number; they can unite more
readily for effective action and they
are of the more wealthy and inf1uen-
tIal class. The consumers on the other
hand are the masses, comprising chief
ly the working people; they are not so
directly affected, or it cannot be so
clearly seen; they cannot so effectively
unite for action, and they are not of the
class that easily get the ear or atten-
ton of congress or council.
And so / suppose indirect taxation
will continue to be popular with reve-
nue. raising bodies. More subtle forms
OF 1t viii be devised; new species of
will be levied upon. and tax
gatherers will congratulate themselves
that another class has been made to
pay taxes that has heretofore escaped.
But the consumer will have to pay it
ultimately just as he always has.
Direct taxation is the only true and
just method of taxation. Direct taxes
are few and simple The inheritance
tax. or death duty, as it is called in
France, is one. The inheritor of prop
erty pays per cent of his inheritance |
to the state, and that he cannot re- |
cover from any one else. A tax on |
Incomes is also direct tax. 1t cannot |
be shifted. tax upon land values is |
the third form of direct taxation. TT |
S more natural than the other two be-
cause land values are created by the
community and it seems but right that
4 portion of these values should 60
1ack TO the community in the form of
axes. Another advantage is that
and value tax checks the monopoly of
and and throws it open to use, Great
ng thereby demand for labor and |,
therefore, raising wages Land values
Ire easily determined, the tax is GER
ain of collection, and it imposes no
burden upon labor. If this form of
axation were substituted for the null
itudinous and vexatious and burden
ome forms of indirect taxation now
1T would immensely stimulate
create a greater demand
or labor, raise wages and destroy
many monopolies that have their root
n the monopoly of land-,the fountain
lead of all production.
N. B. DRESSER.