The times., 1898-05-08
THE TAX ON LAGER BEER
Brewery Influence Succeeds in
Reducing Ii.
S., 900, 900 GIVEN AWAY
War Revenue Measure Not to BE
Reported Before the Middle of the
ed-ERorts to Prevent "a Bond
Issue VIII Come to NnuGht.

The war revenue bill will not be re-
ported TO the Senate before next We'd
nesday or Thursday Not a paragraph
in the bill has been finally acted upon.
and a great many tentative propositions
are still to be finally determined. Con-
siderable headway was made yesterday.
however, and the committee got on
with great good humor-a condition that,
prior to yesterday, had not at all times
existed.
The one prominent fact that was
brought out In the session of yesterday
was the pull the brewers of the country
seem to have with Congress. When the
House committee doubled the tax on beer
it omitted all reference to any rebate on
the purchase price of stamps. and an
extra session of the Committee on Ways
and Means was promptly called, when n
rebate of per cent was allowed. This
was not sufficient. so the pressure was
brought 20 bear on the Senate committee
and. ii appears. with remarkable sue
cess. for that committee has practically
agreed that the rebate of : - per cent
shall be restored. This means that the
net tax on beer shall be $lS5, instead of
81 as the bill now reads. In other words.
the brewers have been given a present
Of $5.000.00O for that is the additional tax
that would have come to the Government
had this rebate not been allowed The
singular thing about the whole business
was the remarkable unanimity wi
which the committee acted yesterday,
regardless of politics. in meeting the de-
mauds of the brewers. while the demands
of every other industry that has been
hard hit in this imposition of war taxes
has been ignored.
Among the tentative propositions that
We're submitted yesterday were several
stringent additions to the stamp tax
schedules offered by Mr. Wolcott. If all
the amendments proposed along this line
are agreed 10 in committee there will be
very little reason for the levying of a tax
on the gross receipts of corporations for
almost everything that a corporation can
do is being taxed in the separate propo-
sitions that have been submitted. Mr..
Wolcott has almost reproduced the stamp
tax acts Of Great Britain in his efforts
to amend the pending bill so as to raise
the aggregate of the measure to the top
notch of revenue production.
One of the most far-reaching amend
ments was an expansion of the House
provision providing for a tax on all ex-
press packages. The Colorado senator
makes this tax applicable to all
merchandise in transit and ne places
a tax on every conceivable kind
of bill of lading so that whether an ar
ticle be sent by express or by freight. by
land or by water, or by any carrier what
soeyer. so long as a bill Of lading be re
quired. tax is to be affixed, and, more
than this. he requires a separate tax
stamp to be affixed to each and every du-
plicate, So rigorous is this proposed law
that it prohibits the use of any bill of
lading as evidence in any court unless it
has the stamp tax affixed and provides a
punishment of so for every violation.
While falling TO remedy the evils that
have been pointed out in the tax pro-
posed to be placed on mortgages and
notes. Mr.. Wolcott yesterday offered an
amendment that goes beyond anything
We; suggested, for he proposes a tax of /
rent on every receipt given in return for
the payment OF money and each and ev-
cry other evidence of the liquidation of
a debt. Under this clause of the stamp
tax schedule the receipt OF the grocer,
the baker and the butcher for the weekly
household account will require tax
stamp.
The proposed Inheritance tax meets
with favor and will probably remain in
the bill. There are many who believe that
this IS a tax that should have been on
the statute books years ago. AS it has
been prepared It relates entirely to per-
sonal property and Is intended to strike at
those inheritances of personal property
that escape their share of taxation under
the ordinary means of levying taxes. This
part OF the bill is expected 20 prove a
great source of revenue and a constantly
Increasing one. 50 that within short
time after It becomes effective it may ag-
gregate as much as $25.OOOO 900 year.
The license tax about which there has
been great deal Of comment and against
which much criticism has been aimed has
been purged Of much of It's Objectionable
features 1t is now intended to operate
only against stock brokers and business
of a kindred nature
No action has yet been taken on the in
come tax, but the more the pending bill
is discussed the more apparent does Il
become that the proposed income tax Is
losing in strength. This is due solely to
the prevailing doubt as to the ws@dom OF
putting such tax on the bill in view of
the many taxes that have been imposed
under the stamp tax schedules.
The tobacco tax is quite sure to be in
creased but to what figure is not yet
agreed upon. The majority of the com
mittee appear to favor sixteen cents a |
pound, but there are others who favor !
a rate OF twenty cents a pound on all
manufactured tobacco.
The outlook is more favorable than It
was for the retaining of the paragraph
authorizing the issue of bonds in the com
mitiee's report. Mr. Wolcott ii is now