Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-08-17
INCOME TAX.
BRYAN STANDS BY THE POPU-
LIST PLATFORM.
Shows How He Defended the Tax In
Congress and Outflow 1t Operated
In War Times-A just Method of Pay
Ing Expenses OF Governments.

minded person. He says: "The sub
jects of every state ought to contribute
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 re-
spectively enjoy under the protection
of the state. In the observation or
neglect of this rule consists what is
called the equality or inequality OF tax
alton" 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 income; but an indirect tax
may work great injustice, because its
operation is concealed from the public
view.
Local taxation in city, county and
state is usually proportional to the
property of the citizen; but instead OF
being entirely equitable, property tax
is often collected almost entirely from
visible property, leaving the invisible
property free. Those who own real
estate, horses, cattle, 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, 1t 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 security may
fail. for there may be default in the
payment of the interest, while the in
come tax adjusts itself to the condition
of the taxpayer, being large when the
income is large and small when the in
come Is small.
Then, too, 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.
lected with absolute justice, we make
nearer approach to Justice in local
taxation than we do in the collection
of our federal revenue. Until the be-
ginning of the Spanish war almost all
of 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 col
lected 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 to-
bacco does not increase according to
income, the taxes collected through
this system are in effect graded in
come taxes, 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 evil
dent 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 pro-
vided by the Wilson bill was intended
as partial compensation for the in
justice done by the other systems. The
per cent assessed upon individual in
comes 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 exemption provided in
that law. Many who did not under
stand the reason for the exemption
protested against 1t and insisted that
the per cent should apply to all in
comes, large and small. But since ex-
cessive burdens are laid upon the pos
SCISSORS of small incomes by internal
revenue taxes and import duties it
would be manifestly unjust to continue
the inequality by making them pay a
per cent equal to that collected from
the possessors of large incomes.
The 2 per cent tax upon the net in
come of corporations was defended
upon the ground that the corpora
tion enjoys special privileges conferred
by law and occupies much of the time
of the federal legislature, the federal
executive and the federal courts. Just
prior to the passage of the Wilson
tariff bill obtained, through the cour-
tesy of Secretary Gresham, statistics
from number of European govern
ments.
found that in Prussia the income
tax had been in operation about TWEEN
ty years, and that incomes under 900
marks were exempt, while the tax
ranged from less than / per cent to
about per cent on larger incomes.