Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-12-05

at least make good the diHerence III
cost Of production here and abroad;
that is, the difference in labor cost here
and abroad, for the well'being Of the
wage-worker must ever be cardinal
point of American policy. The question
should be approached purely from
business standpoint; both the time
and the manner Of the change being
such as to amuse the minimum of agl-
tation and disturbance in the business
world, and to give the least play for
selfish and fractional motives. The
sole consideration should be to see
that the sum total of change repre-
sents the public good. This means that
the subject can not with wisdom be
dealt with in the year preceding a
presidential election, because as a
matter of fact experiences has conclu-
sively shown that at such a time it is
impossible to get men to treat it from
The wise time to deal with the mat
the standpoint of the public good.
ter is Immediately after such cleo
ton.
Income and Inheritance Tax.
When our tax laws are revised the
question of an income tax and an in
heritance tax should receive the care
full attention of our legislators. In
my judgment both of these taxes
should be part of our system of fed
eraf taxation. | speak efficiently about
the income tax because one scheme
for an income tax was declared un-
constitutional by the supreme court;
while in addition it is a difficult tax
to administer in it's practical working,
and great care would have to be exer-
c;sed to see thai it was not evaded by
the very men whom it was most de-
sirable to have taxed, for if so evaded
it would, of course, be worse than no
tax at all; as the least desirable Of
all taxes is the tax which bears heav-
lily upon the honest as compared with
the dishonest man. Nevertheless, a
graduated income tax of the proper
type would be a desirable feature of
federal taxation, and it is to be hoped
that one may be devised which the
supreme court will declare constitu-
tional.
The inheritance tax, however, is
both far better method of taxation,
and far more important for the pur-
pose of having the fortunes of the
country bear in proportion to their in
crease in size corresponding in
crease and burden of taxation. The
government has the absolute right to
decide as to the terms upon which
man shall receive bequest or de-
wise from another, ard this
!oint in the devolution of prop
erty is especially appropriate for the
imposition of a tax. Laws imposing
such taxes have repeatedly been
LACED upon the national statute books
ard as repeatedly declared constit,I-
tonal by the courts; and the laws con-
tanned the progressive principle, that
Is, after certain amount is reached
the bequest or gift, in life or death,
is increasingly burdened and the rate
of taxation is increased in proportion
to the remoteness of blood of the man
receiving the bequest. These principles
are recognized already in the leading
civilized nations of the world. In
Great Britain all the estates worth
$4,000 or less are practically exempt
from death duties, while the increase
Is such that when an estate exceeds
hye millions of dollars in value and
passes to a distant kinsman or
stranger in blood the government re-
ceives all told an amount equivalent
TO nearly a fifth of the whole estate.
In France so much of an inheritance
as exceeds s10,00000O pays over a
fifth to the state if it passes to a dis
tant relative. The German law Is es-
pecially interesting to us because it
makes the inheritance tax an imperial
measure while allotting to the individ-
ual states of the empire a portion
OF the proceeds and permitting them
to impose taxes in addition to those
imposed by the imperial government.
small inheritances are exempt, but the
tax is so sharply progressive that
when the inheritance is still not very
large, provided 1t is not an agricul-
tural or forest land, it is taxed at
the rate of 25 per cent If it goes to
distant relatives. There is no reason
why in the United States the national
government should not impose inheri-
lance taxes in addition to those i'm
posed by the states, and when we last
had an inheritance tax about one half
~ the states levied such taxes con-
currently with the national govern
ment making combined maximum
rate in some cases as high as 25 per
cent The French law has one feat
ure which is to be commended. The
progressive principle is so applied
that each higher rate is imposed only
on the excess above the amount sub
Ieet to the next lower rate; so that
each increase of rate will apply only
Taf