The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-17
THE INCIDENCE OF TAxATION

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXATION.
We hear much learned talk about the
science of taxation, and we are now
again assured that the Dingley bill Is
a scientifically constructed tax law,
end, now that 1t is in the senate, we
are assured by a member Of that body,
who prefers to keep his candle under
bushel, that "the senate will make it
more scientific" In sober truth it is
no science, in practice only an art, and
the art is the same old one defined by
Louis XIV.'s finance minister as the
process Of plucking feathers from the
goose without making 1t squawk.
Translated into the vernacular this
means that it is the art of getting the
largest quantity of revenue in the
easiest manner, with the least fric-
ton on the pocket nerve Of the payers
of taxes. In any science Of taxation
the incidence of the tax is inseparable
from any consideration Of it, where
will it fall and where will it ultimate
ly rest, because the. object Of scientific
taxation is to have the tax rest where
it is laid, else there can be no approx
imation to equality. But we venture
that no member of any Of our taxing
bodies ever gave this factor Of s~tha
problem a moments thought
1t is the ease Of collection, the enor-
&1oN 10
restiveness Of the taxpayer to whom
it comes merged in cost Of something
he buys or pays for, that makes all in
direct taxation so favorite a method
of getting revenue. But it Is the most
unscientif1c, and therefore wrongful
and unjust system possible, because it
never rests where it is laid. It is al
ways shifting tax, passed on from
one payer to another until it rests
always on shoulders least able to carry
it. It makes of all intermediate payers
mere collectors augmenting as 1t goes
down the line, until the amount finally
paid is a very much larger sum than
that which goes into the f1sc. The
railway, paying a gross earnings tax,
adjusts it's tariffs to recoup It, Ths
importer adds the impost to the cost of
his goods, plus his percentage Of profit;
the jobber passes it on to the retailer
and he to his customer, each swelling
1T with his percentage Of gain. The
licensee pays the license and tries-and
~,
larger prices.
Such taxes rest finally where the
payer cannot pass them on in increased
price or cost, on those, in other words,
who cannot make the price Of what
they have to SELL When this class is
reached, wherever found. one finds
the real taxpayers of all indirect taxes,
the real burden bearers And this is
inevitable, because it results from the
natural and universal impulse to ac-
complish ones purpose with the least
expenditure of effort; to sustain no
loss, if it can be evaded; to shift bur
dens; to find for our activities the line
of least resistance. tits this that con-
stitutes the vice of all indirect taxa
ton, and especially Of that form
known as tariffs, which, shifted off
and passed along, violate the constitu-
tiOnal injunction of uniformity and the
demand Of equity for equality Taxing
consumption, it exempts property and
enables wealth to escape portions of its
tax on what it consumes by casting it
off onto others.
Ultimately, this migratory tax mus
rest somewhere and, disguised as cost,
it goes along down the line of consum-
ers until it comes to him who cannot
fix the price Of what he has to
sell, whether product or energy.
Broadly this man is the one who finds
the price Of his product fixed in the
worlds markets and has to take that
or not sell, or the other who finds more
men willing to work than there are op-
pOrtunities. The farmer and the wage
Garner are the victims of this system Of
taxation, in whose formation it's Incl
dence is never considered.