The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1909-09-30

collecting taxes are attended with
disagreeable circumstances.
A man with an income Of five
thousand or one hundred thousand
dollars per annum ought to be in
| favor of the income tax, and be
perfectly willing to pay to the
Government in most cheerful
manner, percentage Of an in
come, which he only secures
through the protection of wise
and beneficent government. Much
OF the ill feeling and the CLASSIFIED
ing which exists in this country,
is due to the popular belief that
the burden Of Government falls in
unfair proportions on the backs of
the poor, Of oil others, least able
to bear the burden.
The Income Tax is not so easily
shifted as are taxes on mortgages
| and real estate and other forms of
personal property. 1t is q fairer
tax than most taxes, because it
proposes to tax the individual in
accordance with his ability to bear
the cost of government, and in
that sense is intended to be equit-
able. Personally, | am in favor
of a graduated income tax, and /
90 so far as to believe that fully
ten or fifteen per cent of large in
comes should be paid over to the
! Commonwealth and the Govern
ment, thus greatly reducing the
burden of taxation now borne by
people with small incomes. The
so called ultimate consumer, who
finds himself outraged by the AL
drich Tariff taxes, must not for
get that the principal excuse for
the Aldrich Bill rested in the
cry that the Government must
have more revenue. Now, that
we have reached the point of a
billion Congress, it follows that
when tariff taxes on imports are
almost prohlbitory against certain
lines of goods, the imports fall
off; and revenues are reduced and
thus the Government is driven to
adopt other means Of raising
national revenues. There is no
denying the fact that the Income
Tax aims to tax those best able to
bear the burdens of Government.
A curious, yet a not entirely un-
usual circumstance in politics, was
the act of republican Congress,
taking out of the National Demo-
cratic Platform of 1909, the In
come Tax Plank, and adopting
that plank actually as its own, and
the reading of that plank is
peculiarly interesting at this time.
"We favor an income tax as part
of our revenue system, and we
urge the submission of a consti
tutional amendment specifically
authorizing Congress to levy and
collect n tax upon individual and
corporate incomes to the end that
wealth may bear it's proportionate
share of burdens of the Federal
Government"
There is little doubt, but that
oil of the Southern States will
adopt the amendment. AT the
present time the Democracy of
Georgia is reactionary, but our
opinion is that there is much
popular discussion relative to the
action of the Legislative in post
poning the vote on the amendment,
and the real Democrats of Georgia
are contrasting the betrayal of the
National Platform with the un-
animous resolution of both Houses
of the adjoining State of Alabe ma,
voting the amendment OF the
Constitution. The twelve Pacific
Coast and Intermountain States
will vote almost unanimously Tor
the amendment. The battle will
be lively In such States as Illinois,
Indiana and Ohio, where speciaI
interests are very we'll entrenched,
but the fight will be the hardest
and severest for friends Of the in
come tax, in the States of New
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland
Delaware, New Jersey and iL the
New England States as well. But
| believe that a growing popular
sentiment will within two or three
| years, at the outside, bring the
State Legislatures of the East into
line with the progressive Demo
crat sentiment of the West an1
the South,