The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-01-11
ANNUAL MEETING OF
LAWYERS OF STATE
Charles Baldwin Is Elected
President of the Bar
Association.
CHANGES ARE PROPOSED
IN THE CONSTITUTION
Meeting Will Be Held in April
to Consider the Amend
mentS.


Judge I.c Grande Young. the retiring
president, delivered an address upon the
proposed amendment n the federal con-
stitution providing for an Income taN.
= his amendmcut NH be passed upon by
thc legislatures of the various states one
Ncar from now, and Judge founS, N
frost lurcible manner. directed the hlten- .
iion oi the members OF the par 10 the lin-
portancc OF the question,
Some changes in the constitution were
proposed. one providing for semi annual
meetings one in April and the other IN
pctobcr, bur ihes" propositions could nov
br passed upon al Mondays meeting as
irc present constitution provides that it's
provisions cannot he changed unleS" BY
= two.jhirds vote OF all the membcrs OF
lhs association. and but very iew %~rS r.1s
4kvu until April when the proposals VII
he considered, stephen /" Richards was
ricctcd secretary auu J.. h. SNaHe' ES"S-
urei.
President Youngs Address.
Judge I.c Grand Young president OF
th, association. aS is the custom, then
leiiyercI his annual address. He said
Ks You we'll know. one moro year and
thc legislature of the state will again
meet. and there are some questions in
regard To the general laws. particularly
which are necessarily interesting TO law
yors. and 10 which 1t might be prohtahe
for them 10 give some attention,
There is. however. one mattet & mat
win come before the next legislature that
might not be uninterestinS Tor the mem
bcIs q! the bar 10 consider mt thus ilmy,
nave reference To the proposed amend
mont % the constitution OF INC tnltcd
states, which was introdGced III tn1
United states senate July .. 1909 and
which under our system. VIII have 10 be
ratified by three foINths of the leSisIa-
ttircS of the several states before ii be-
comes a part OF the law Of the lanG.
This proposed amendment reads as io-
lows: The congress shall have power 10
levy and collect taxes on incomes. from
,,-l1. ~
tionment among tho several states. ana
without regard 10 any census or enumerI
alton Subdivision three, section TWO oi
'thc Constitution OF article one. provides
That Representation aud direct thNeS
shall be sppoi Toned am3nS INC sGiyIh, S,bii,
this union Then again. the lil,St para
graph of section eight roads: That con
gross shah have power to lay a ana a, cor
"H That all duties Imports ana
cxcises shall bc uniform. This proposed
1he supreme court holding invalid the
act of congress oi August L.. 1894 known
rs The income tax law. This law pro,
Nidcd tnat after January J. i,, IS9% ano nc
assessed and paid annually upon N"
gains. profits and income received IN the
in The United States. a tax uf two per
,s.utum Oh Ihe amount so derived over
l;5j above four thousand dollars,
Some Of the Exemptions.
partnerships arc excluded FROM this
provision. Stltcs. municipalities. cor
prl'ttinns. dissertations. organized ana
ouuducted for charitable religious OF ed
U"9tionai purposes; stocks. shares. funds
or securities held by any nducialN or
trustee which Is conducted on tho NH
iul plan aud solely for The benefit of
is poicyholdelS all these arc exempt.
1t was claimed by those asking the
aid of thc court that tn" income tax
law was In violation of the provisions OF
the Constitution oi the United States. be
tI.g l..,. In 81 I.,N
ing q tax nu The iucon" OF rents oi real
estate. thereby imposes lax Upon ih"
real estate itself: aud. srcond; The i'm
pusinG of tax tho interest or other
income of hnnd@ OF personal property
thereby imposes u tax upon the personal
estate itself. and that such = tax w;s
without regard 10 the constitutional rllc
NJ apporuonment: aud third. that tho
law was invalid hecaus" imposing ind-
rect taxes in violation Of Ui" constitu-
ii"nal requirement of uniformity Tho
"him wI; also mad" that taxation should
not only bc uniform. but sho,ld u" oqual
and imnariial; and that the law vas in
valid for imposing tax upon income
tha' was received from state and muni-
great. unwrittcn principle that the
government should not tax the instru-
r1cHtalitics ri The. states. nor tho states
the lnstrnmentalitics OF the genera! gov
ernm"1t.
Quotes From Constitution,
After quoting from thc Constitution ol
Ia" nation. Judge Young said il would he
sc"u That 'aA"s and representation 20
baud Ia hand. and must be apportioncd: :
but duties imposts and "ScisaS are not
hid in ,his WAY. hut they "er" bound TO
sion al what MAS ille precise meaning of
direct tax. Judge Young said:
One would think that from the
lsyes' or 'dtrec, tax VIC would find Some
exact definition of that phrase. but tho
- term had not, NJ 70 the tiune oi the de-
exact defni,ion
fndze Yo,,ng then referred to The con
Nenticn OF l.S.. which framed the con
stitution. quoting from several nf he
speakers of that timo relative 10 'di-
1"ct tax. Easing his opinion on tive
quotations which showed y great differ
encc nt opinion. the speaker said II WAS
evident that at The time of the adoption
az the Constitution The question was not
definitely settled Mr. YOUNG believed
that the definition of ono Of the speakers
~ the famous assembly was generally
accepted; namely. that general tax nn
al taxable property MS direct tax,
because IL was pad without being rec
nmpcnSed DS the consumer. Bot what
seemed 30 be OF most interest TO III"
makers ol tho Constitution was that rep
rcscntauon should follow taxation and
,hiS would have been practically impos-
sihie under the direct taxation system
Decision of the Court
Judge Young then quoted from a num-
bnr Of decisions bearing ON the point.
one of them 9s far back as 1895 with
reference u ;he tax levied on carriages.
Then he gave some extracts from ihc
opinion rendered IN the iucoInc tax II ~
case. namely. that TAX rcal estate
being y direct tax. the tax on the in
come ~ real estate was pr5c ticaiiy the
same thing. aud thar the tax or NUM-
cipal sccuritics Was "A tax against tho in
sirumcutaitie- of ihs state. and there
inre violation of the Constitutions Soy
eTdi important questions. however wero
loft unanswered in THAI opulon. he - id.
In . subsequent opinion: however tho
iield of inquiry being broAdened. The
following were the Cohcusions Of the
suprcmc court ot the United states.
First. IS" adhere 10 tho opinion a-
, rcedy announced 1hat taxes ON real cs-
tate bain. indisputably direct taxes
taxes on tho rents or income of real es-
tate arc equally direct taxes.
Second We are oC tho opinion thu,
taSos on personal property. or on the
income OF personal property. are like
Hisn direct taxes.
''1'aird. the taxes imposed by sections
twenty -seycu Ia thjriy-scyon. inclusive
81 The uct of iS9i. so far aS IL fslli.; un
tilr Income nf real estate and OF per
so'iiii property. being direct tax in tno
mpaning of the Constitution and there
fore unconstitutional and void. because
not .tpportionad 10 rcproseutaiion ali
\. s,..