The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1907-11-08
TARIFF INEQUALITY
THE POOR PAY MORE TAXES
THAN THE RICH.
Duties Levied on Necessities of Life
Are Responsible for This State
Of Affairs-lnportaEt Reason
For Reduction.

The tariff not only protects the
trusts but II makes the poor man pay
more tariff taxes than the rich man
does. Leaving out the fact that the
trusts are protected by the tariff, for
this everybody knows who has taken
the trouble to investigate the matter,
II is OF still more Importance to pre-
sent the facts that show that the
many are taxed for the benefit OF the
few. As a general proposition no one
Will deny that taxes should be assess.
ed and paid according to income and
the amount of property possessed by
the citizen. The person with an in
come of 500 n month or less should
certainly pay less taxes than one with
$1,000 a month or more, and yet as far
as tariff taxes on necessities are con.
cerned the man with the small in.
come pays as much and even more
than the man with the larger income,
because both poor and rich consume
about the same quantity of these
taxed necessities.
The poor man has to buy as much
sugar as the rich man. and therefore
the tariff tax on sugar is much heavier
on his small income than on that OF
his rich neighbor As large families
are more usual with the poor than
with the rich. the tarff is thus still
heavier on those less able to pay It,
The tariff tax on refined or graduated
sugar being one and ninety.fiye hun
dredths of cent n pound, equal to
6i.32co on the value OF imported sug
ar in the country where 1t was pro.
duced which in 1906 was cents
pound, the cost OF sugar Is increased
by the tariff to the American con.
sumer nearly . cents n pound. As the
average consumption OF sugar per
capita in the United States is estimat.
ed at 10 pounds, each average family
OF five persons uses $50 pounds on
which the tariff tax ia $3.50 per fam.
lily on this one article OF necessity. II
the family consists of more than Ave
persons the tax is Sl.3G more for each
extra person and is reduced the same
amount for each person less than FIVE
in the family
The tax to the poor man earning
$50 n month is about one per cent Of
his wages, while the tax paid by the
rich man on an income of $500 a
month is but one tenth of one per
cent. and on the very rich the tax is
so inhnitesmal that it is difficult TO
the percentage. This one
item of the tariff taxes paid is but a
sample Of the inequality OF such In
direct taxes and is the reason tho
democrats desire to reduce the tariff |
and in place Of such reduction collect |
n tax upon incomes.
There is another important reason |
for the reduction and even the abo. |
lition of the tariff tax on such articles |
as are controlled by trusts, for with |
no tariff. or only enough to produce
revenue, the trusts will BE- compelled |
TO reduce the price they charge for |
their products, or foreign products |
would be imported and compete with |
81
would lose that much trade II they
did not compete with the foreign i'm.
ports. Thus the price of trust products
would fall and instead OF paying five
cents a pound for sugar II would sell !
for about three cents. as It does in
England, and many other trust made
articles would decrease in proportion
to the reduction of the tariff tax.
Some Of the tariff schedules are
to plumber the poor man
more than the rich in even n more di.
rect manner For instance the tariff
tax on fine quality long blankets Ia
only about half what 1t is in a cheaper
grade and the poor man needs as
many blankets to keep warm as the
rich man does, and even more for his
house is not as we'll built or as warmly
heated.
Asset Currency