The National tribune., 1906-12-13
INHERITANCE AND INCOME TAX.

of these is As to whether the Govern
mcnt should invade the tax fields of
the States or Counties. The States and
Counties have need Of a great deal more
revenue than the Government. BY far
the larger part OF the taxes paid every
where are TO the Counties and cities,
with those paid TO the State and Ma
tion:d Governments only q very small
percentage. The present system of
taxa ton gives the Government abund-
ant revenues. and It is system as to
which there is little complaint. The
income derived from customs is not
strictly a tax, but q duty imposed 10
protect our manufacturers and farmers
There would be the most strenuous op-
position to the reduction of much OF
this taxation. The same is true of the
other great source of revenue, the in
ternaI revenue. taxes. Substantially
everyone wants the tax retained, as 1t
is upon whisky, beer and tobacco. Get
ting an ample revenue from these
souTces. WY should tie Government ir-
vaGe te'Gs which are. reserved for the
sorciy-prcsz locI! Corernments' Ev-
cry city. every tow7, every County in
the country wants much more revenue
than it is getting. ana actually needs 1t
for public improvements and other re-
qurements of the highest Importance.
Henry George lays down the rule that
there is only so much water in the
barrel. and multiplication of spiSots
will not furnish any more. There Is
only so much taxable wealth in the
country, and the more that the Gov
ernmcnt takes the less there will be for
the municipal and other subordinate
Governments. Every additional dollar
that the Government may draw into the
Treasury is a dollar taken away from
the money wanted to build roads and
bridges. educate the children. care for
the moor and the various other strong
local needs. II is true that this might
be met by the Government imposing
the general tax and then distributing
the money again to the local authorl-
ties This has, however, never received
much favor from our people. The
taxes in one community would be liable
to drive away capitalists and others 10
other communities This is question:
able. and at most it would be only tenn
porary in its effects. because if the sys-
tenn of taxation works well in one STATE
the other States will be quick to adopt
it. For example, New York has an in
heritance tax which seems to have
worked Kerry satisfactorily. Other States
nave been watching the experiment with
keen interest. and Undoubtedly they
will one after another soon follow New
York's example by adopting law sim.-
lar to that of New York. At all events
there has been no report of wealthy
New Yorlsers going elsewhere to die to
avoid paying the inheritance tax in
New York. They cannot escape 1t even
that way, because the tax falls upon
the property in New York, and change
of residence will not release it. We
shall probably have an inheritance tax
adopted by all the States. and thereby
an increase of revenue in the States
themselves, which will sensibly Tighten
the burdens of the ordinary taxpayer in
those States.
As to the income tax. there are a
number of other very weighty consid-
erations. No matter how just and
equitable an income tax seems on its
face. it works very badly, always has
done so. probably always will. This is
lr-. g Ill :r,
any tax system must be collectability.
Any tax which is not equitably and gen.
orally collectabie develops into sys-
TEN of extortion and oppression. An
income tax has been defined as a tax
upon conscience; that is, the people OF
small. eadily-ascertainable incomes
pay the tax according to the terms of
| the law, while the greater ones pay only
| what they see fit. In European coun-
tries an income tax is possible for vari-
Gus reasons that do not exist here. In
the first place. society there is so well
settled and every mans business Is so
well known that the agents of the Gov
ernment can ascertain with tolerable
accuracy the amount Of his yearly re-
ceipts Then the methods Of those Gov
ernments are so inquisitorial that they
can get at the books, papers and other
sources of information in a way that
would not be tolerated in this country.
| Here fortunes are changing SO rapidly
and the business conditions are go full
of vicissitudes that it would be impos-
sible even for the agents of the Spanish
| inauisition to satisfactorily ascertain
what the exact incomes of any consid-
cradle number Of citizens are. Even If
as in European countries. they could
\ walk into a mans Office at any hour
| they choose. seal up his books and pa.
pers and carry them away for examina-
ton, they would not be able to fix his
| income. Therefore, as we have said
| before, an income tax is necessarily q
tax on conscience.
| We have had heretofore the utmost
| com mplaint as to the way rich men have
avoided taxation upon real tangible
property. What hope can we have tha
they will act any better about such un
real. intangible things as incomes?
/ The Swiss have had the most salts
/ factory income-tax system in Europe
i They let a man report his income a.
he pleases from year to year withou