Arizona republican., 1898-06-20
THE NEW REVENUE LAW.

Not for generation has any tax measure passed through congress the effects of which were so immediately and directly felt by the people as will be those of the new revenue law. And yet we have never had a revenue bill which occasioned so little popular criticism while in process of passage or the enactment of which caused so lit tie popular complaint. That shows how willing the people are to assume the pecuniary burdens of war which they believe to be just and righteous, how averse they are to delaying nec- essary war legislation by discussing details and how confident they feel of their ability, as rich and prosperous nation, to meet new demands of taxa ton to any extent that is likely to be required. Indeed, the only apparent in terest in the new law is to learn how it is going to operate; and to that end brief summary of it's more important provisions may be in order.
 Foremost among those provisions are those authorizing the government to meet the immediate war necessities by borrowing money in anticipation of coming revenue from taxes. As final- ly passed the law authorizes the issue of $100, ,000, ,000 of per cent certificates of indebtedness, running not more than one year, and $40.0o0. 900 of 3 per cent coin bonds, redeemable in ten years and payable in twenty. The poceeds of the bonds are to be used only for war purposes, but the temporary certi- ficates may be used to make up any deficiency in revenue.
 To provide for the interest on these new securities and for the ultimate payment of them, great variety of new taxes are imposed by the law. many of them altogether unfamiliar in practice to the generation that has grown up since the civil war. Thus the revival of stamp taxes will bring tax ation home to us all as not before for many years. Those now imposed are about the same as those of the civil war, but generally of a lower rate. In our former experience it was found that these taxes were easily collected and yielded large amounts of revenue: they can presumably be collected with equal ease now and will. of course. be much more productive because of the increase in population and business. They will be paid by every one who draws checks above twenty dollars. who buys bonds or stocks or patent medicines or perfumery, who gives a mortgage or takes receipt or sends a telegram or receives almost any kind of legal document, or takes out an in- surance policy or hires a house or en- gages sleeping car berth. And there are others of the same kind.
 For the rest, except for the new tax on tea, the bulk of the new revenue is expected to come from increased in ternal revenue taxes on beer and to- bacco, from inheritance taxes and from taxes on certain special lines of busi- ress. Thus there are taxes on stock exchange and produce exchange deal- ings, on bankers and brokers and on theater proprietors except in cities of less than twenty-five thousand people. Of the proposed corporation tax all that is left is levy on corporations re- fining sugar and petroleum and having capital of more than quarter of a million. The inheritance taxes are de- cidedly heavy and will doubtless be vigorously assailed as soon as the war is over and the practical meaning of them is clearly seen. Legacies or in heritances under ten thousand dollars and those passing rom husband to wife or wife to husband are exempt. Rates vary according to the degree Of relationship and on sums exceeding twenty five thousand dollars are cnmu- lative In some cases they are as high as fifteen per cent.
 All of these new taxes may be ex- pected to continue for some time after the war ends. Though when we become more familiar with them and observe their exact effect it will very likely be found necessary to modify them more or less.
 MT. Labouchere is unduiy distressed