Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-03-30
NATIONAL CAPITAL NEWS AND GOSSIP
BY Ralph Smith


WASHINGTON, D. c., March Coon
gress is evidently considering an income
tax law. such as the Democrats enacted
in 1894 and it is possible that the move
ment led by several Democratic regulars,
will prove successful. The sentiment for
such legislation seems to be growing.
slowly but surely, and talk of it is heard
on every side among representatives and
senatOrs.
The Inheritance tax feature of the
Payne bill came as a surprise to most
members; indeed, there is authority for
the statement that Mr. Payne, chairman
of the ways and means committee, cop
ped off, the inheritance tax law of New
York and stuck il in the bill the day
before congress convened in extra session,
only telling his Republican colleagues
on the committee what he had done after
| 1t was an accomplished fact.
The tax on inheritances appears to
meet with the unanimous approval of
Democrats, though there is considerable
feeling that 1t would have been wiser
to have drawn an income tax law framed
to meet the objections of the supreme
court.
A Dividend Tax
In this connection it is interesting to
observe that President Taft and members
of his cabinet are considering the prop
osition of tax the dividends of corpora
TONS The subject is being considered in
the executive office and by various mem
bers of the cabinet, and there are ru-
mors of a possible message from the
president recommending the enactment
of such a law as an amendment to the
tariff bill.
The suggested tax on dividends ap-
proaches nearer to an income tax than
does the proposed inheritance tax feat
ure of the Payne bill
The Democrats will maze an attempt
If the opportunity offers, to amend the
Payne bill by adding to il an income
tax provision, which will be drawn to
meet the difficulties outlined by the Uni
ted States supreme court in declaring
the act of 1894 unconstitutional Repre-
sentative Cordel Hull, of Tennessee, who
has given this subject close attention,
has prepared an amendment and pro-
poses to offer it at the first chance.
The Principle Correct
The principle of an inheritance tax
is correct" said Judge Huh today. but
it is a tax which is being collected in
thirty-six of the forty-six states of the
union, and it does not look right for the
national government, with its enormous
taxing power, to take away from the
individual states the right to derive
revenue by the means that so many of
them have selected. 1t is not to bel
believed that the states would continue
to assess a tax on inheritances should
the federal government begin to collect
revenue from this source"
Judge Hull suggests that there may
be something in the contention that an
income tax would not be collected in +,
proportion to the population Of the va
rious states, but that from each of
them would be deducted twO-hfths of
the negro population, and the number /
of untaxed Indians within each state, in
finding the population for purposes OF :
assessing the amount each state should I
pay.
The Constitutional Provision
The trainers of the federal constitu- !
ton provided that representation in con-
gress should be based upon the number 4
of free persons in STATE, and two /
ffths of the negroes. The fourteenth i
amendment freed the negro and he be- !
came a free person." to use term ap- ;
piled by the trainers of the organic law.
Clearly, the men who made the fed !
eraI constitution had in mind the ne
gro slaves when the section, prescribing !
how direct taxes should be laid and ,
fixing a basis Of representation. was /
drawn. 1t is clear that the original /
section, providing the manner in which !
direct taxes should be assessed, was re- !
pealed in so far as it prescribed the /
rsS1- or representation, but nothing was /
said concerning the manner in which /
direct taxes should be laid. /
AS the matter stands, it is a question s
whether direct taxes can be apportiOned ,
among the state without excluding two
fifths of the negroes from the count |
The necessity of the provision regard /
ing three-fifths of the negro population
ceased to exist when She negro was ,
made citizen
Furthermore. the fourteenth amend .
ment says specifically that the whole !