Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-08-23
H1iseellaneuus geading.
JUSTICE OF INCOME TAX.
Some Reasons Why 1t Should be
Graduated.
W. ] BRYAN DISCUSSES The MATTER.

Here Is q Valuable Contribution In8t may
Prove Somewhat Heavy For Some; But
Which Will Afford Instruction to All
Who viii Give It Careful Study.
w. J. Bryan in New York Journal.
Is there any just rule for determln-
ing the proportion in which citizens
should contribute to the support of the
government.
Adam Smith suggests rule which
must commend itself to every fair
minded person. He said: "The SUBJ
jects of every state ought to contri-
butte to the support of the government
as nearly as possible in proportion to
their respective ability that is, in pro.
portion to the revenue which they res
pectively enjoy under the protection
of the state. In the observation or
neglect of this rule consists what is
called the quality or inequality of
taxation. In other words direct
tax upon incomes is the fairest tax
that can be suggested. All taxes are
really income taxes, because all taxes
are paid out of incomes but an indi.
rect tax may work great injustice, be-
cause its operation is concealed from
the public view.
Local taxation in city, county and
state is usually proportioned to the
property of the citizen; but instead of
being entirely equitable, a property
tax is often collected almost entirely
from visible property, leaving the in
visible property free. Those who own
real estate, horses, hogs, machinery
and household goods, cannot evade the
assessor, but those whose wealth con-
sists largely of money and evidences
of indebtedness too frequently escape.
Where visible property is taxed and
the invisible property escapes the pos
SCISSORS of visible property are over
taxed, in order to make up for the
evasion of those who possess invisible
property. But even when property
tax is honestly collected upon all
forms of property, real and personal,
it is not as fair a tax as an income tax.
Property may be temporarily unpro-
ductive. If a farmer pays taxes on
his land the tax goes on, even though
the crop may fail. If a money lender
pays tax upon his money his securi-
ty may fail, or there may be default in
the payment of the interest, while an
income tax adjusts itself to the condi-
ton of the taxpayer, being large when
the income is large, and small when
the interest is small.
Then, too, a property tax does not
reach those who enjoy considerable
income under the protection of the
government and yet consume the in
come without investing in real or per.
sonal property. The income tax
reaches all.
While our local taxes are not collect
ed with absolute justice, we make
nearer approach to justice in local
taxation than we do in the collection
of our Federal revenue. Until the
beginning of the Spanish war almost
ali the revenue collected for the sup.
port of the Federal government came
from two sources-namely, internal
revenue taxes and import duties. In
ternal revenue taxes, being collected
on LIQUOR and tobacco, are not collected
from the people in proportion to their
incomes, but in proportion to the
LIQUOR and tobacco they consume, and
as the consumption of liquor and
tobacco does not increase according to
income, the taxes collected through
this system are in effect graded income
tax, the largest per cent. being, on the
average, collected from the smallest
incomes, and the smallest per cent.
from the largest incomes. Import
duties collected on consumption are
also in effect graded income taxes,
bearing heaviest upon those with
smallest incomes. 1t must be evident
to the most casual observer that the
burdens of the Federal government,
instead of being borne according to
the rule laid down by Adam Smith,
are too heavy upon the poor and too
light upon the rich. The income tax
provided by the Wilson bill was inten-
ded as a partial compensation for the
Injustice done by the other systems.
The 2 per cent. assessed upon individ'
ual incomes above $4,000, while not
sufficient to bring the rich up to an
equality with the poor in taxation,
was step in the right direction.
Much fault was found with the ex-