Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26
NO ESCAPE FROM WAR TAXES
They Hit Nearly all Citizens in One Way or
Another.
BUNDLES OF NEW REVENUE STAMPS
Costly sHckers 20 Re Ready for Busi-
ness on the First Of July
Gothnm's Contribution 20
the Spanish Dance.

the general public has given any thought to.
The importers, manufacturers, jobbers, re-
tailers, In fact, all merchants who hand their
wares over to the general public for con-
sumption, have not been so remiss In this
matter, and the result is that most OF those
who come in for heavy taxes under the
new bill have arranged things so that their
share Of the war revenue will be paid by
the consumer. Then there are many other
things in everyday use by the general pub
lie, such as bank checks, deeds, mortgages,
conveyances, notes and steamship tickets,
that the individual himself must pay the
tax on. There is going 10 be a great num-
Der of surprised citizens on the first day
that the new law goes into effect, which
will probably be on July l, because the ar
ticles taxed are so many.
An interesting feature OF the new law is
the new stamps It is going to put into use
in this country. There will be hundreds OF
different kinds. For weeks the government
engravers have been making designs and sub
hitting them to the Treasury department
for approval. 1t is said that all of this
part OF the work has been completed, and
that the government plants, assisted by the
various banknote companies, are hard at
work, trying to turn out enough stamps to
meet the demands OF the first week In the
life of the new law.
The demand during that week will be ire
mendous. Every bank check must bear a
stamp. Most men know that there are thou
sands Of bank checks issued daily in this
city alone. In the entire country there may
be 1000, 600. Yet the stamping of the bank
checks is just one item in the list.
During the civil wal and away up into the
'70s, when there was a tax on bank checks,
the stamping was expedited by the banks,
which entered into an agreement with the
government by means of which they were al
lowed to stamp themselves whole books of
checks. These books were sold to the de-
p~ositors for the value of the stamps they
contained. Whether this method will be
adopted now is a question. If it is not, the
depositor will have to buy his own stamps
and stick them on himself.
AS the distribution of these stamps Is in
the hands of the collector of internal rev.
enue, they will naturally be on sale in the
offices of the district collectors. Banks also
will keep them, they will be on sale in the
various exchanges downtown, and in the
business centers of the city. Stamps of the
kind that almost everybody will want will
probably be sold in drug stores and retail
dry goods stores, as the ordinary postage
stamps are today. The whole thing will
eventually resolve itself into a perfect sys-
NSiAs ~ faNSNANhA 40 iNNhSi
the government, in the short time it has had
to get ready, will be able to supply enough
stamps to meet the demand of the first few
days. If it is not, there will be endless con-
fusion and interference with business. How
ever, the government is not generally remiss
in such matters, and there is little danger
of such a breakdown.
GOthom's Share.
New York City's contribution to the war
fund under the new law will be almost twice
as much as that exacted from any other city
in the country. There is very little to base
calculations on, but it has been roughly es-
timated that this city will spend $40, 000, 600
annually on war taxes. There will be no
protest here. II it were twice as much New
Workers would stand it without a word.
The tax on beer is nominally 81 a barrel.
1t will be 81 under the new law. 1t is ex>
pected that something like 81, 900, 900 a year
will be realized on beer in this city. The
brewers have refused to pay or even share
the additional expense. They say that the
retailer must stand it. The retailers are
not satisfied with this plan at all. They
proposed some time ago that the government
quadruple it's present excise charge, which
is $25, and let them off with that. This,
however, did not meet with the approval OF
the ways and means committee, and they
rejected 1t. Now the retailer must get even
on the consumer. He can do it in one of two
ways, either raise the price of a glass, or
make the glass smaller. The bottlers of
beer decided some time ago to charge 5
cents more a dozen for bottled beer, but the
! man who sells it over the bar Is still think
ing it over.
Many of the retailers are growing at the
refusal of the brewers to share the tax.
They say that the brewers are really gain
ers by the new law, as the government
allows them a rebate of ~ cents on their
stamps. BY charging retailers the full
amount they will be getting just that much
more a barrel than they ever did before.
From the 10-cents-a-pound tax on tea, the
government expects to realize about $780,
00O, 900 annually in the country. New York's
share of this. based on the importations of
past years, will be about So, 900, 900. There
will be no tax on tea imported before July
/, of course, and by that time importers
hope to get in some 20, 600, 900 pounds. This,
however, will only be about one-fifth of the
amount usually imported each year. The
importers and retailers will never stand the
tax themselves. Tea will simply jump up
10 cents a pound after July 1 and the public
will have TO pay that much more for 1t or
go without,
Stamps will have to be affixed to all
papers relating to real estate Transactions
con~veyances, deeds, leases, agreements or
contracts, mortgages, trust deeds and
powers of attorney. Real estate men in this
city who are familiar with the revenue bill
are wondering what the effect of the section
which imposes a tax of so cents per $500 or
. fraction thereof on deeds and conveyances
where the consideration or value exceeds
800 is going to be. For years 1t has been the
practice to insert nominal considerations,
generally 81, in deeds, the object being to
keep secret the amount OF money involved
in a transaction. Hereafter a nominal con-
sideration mentioned in a deed will not re-
lease the parties interested from stamping
the deed at the rate OF so cents for every
$500 of value of the property involved over
800, which will, OF course, reveal the real
consideration.
From real estate transactions in this city
the government will probably derive about
$500, 900 annually. The revenue from the
country from this item OF the bill will prob
ably be between $751; 900, 900 and 500, 900, 900.
The Pinch In Wall street.
A very large part OF the war tax will come
out of Wall street. The tax OF 2 cents on