The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-03-13
HOLD THE TAX !.
/. CONSTITUTIONAL
The United Stales J. Supreme
Court Is Unanimous in
+ Opinion.
1T IS An EXCISE TAX
pn the Doines Of Business and Court
Holds Corporation Tax Is With
the Limits Of the Con-
|; I'D stitution
e tgFsg
1T IS An EXCISE TAX

Associated Press Special.
Washington, March 13.-The
United States supreme court this
morning in a unanimous opinion
held that the federal corporation
tax is an excise tax on the doings of
business and that it is constitution
al
n The fight against the constitution
atty of the corporation tax began
almost Immediately after the enact
ment of the Payne AIfats tariff
Aaw of 1909 bf Which it is a part
During the long days OF 'wrangling IN
congress over t1lat measure, Presi-
dent TAFT orgMted plan to raise
part of the revenue necessary for ihe
running of the government BIZ inn
aposinEy a corporation tax, lie Is said
80 haye made~the first rough draft.
VT the proposed Law and ltosba ASK
ed ed, the : depart%eE !. = $50, z per
Scarcely f1rteen years nsfo<s. the
1 supreme court of the United States
had declared uriconstitutional the
Il income tax measure enacted by con
sr1 In order to have valid tax
the errors at tffat law had to b
favoideda-EMally the attention 8
membS& of the house and senai
were called to theaaHopoaed CORPS
: alton tar as constitutional meas
ure- II was urged as preferable t
another income tax which, 1T was al
| gned probably would be declared I'M
constitutional and as under the cir
cumstances Shelter legislation than
an inheritance tax When the tariff
bill was in the senate, the corpora
| ton tax provisions were inserted as
an amendment to the Payne bill
passed by the house. They remained
! there and became part of the tar
! If act tstte. -l+54t --a
The provisions of the law stated
! that the tax was a special excise
tax with respect to the carrying on
or doing business 1t wasito be paid
by every corporation, joint stock
company or association, organized
for profit and having a capital stock
represented by shares, and every in
surance company organized under
the laws of the United States or OF
any state or territory" 1t was provid-
ed that the tax should be "equival
ent to one per centuni upon the en-
tire net income over and above
$1,000 received from all sources
exclusive of amounts received as div
idends upon stock of other Col pora-
tions, joint stock companies or asso-
Citations, or insurance companies,
subject to the tax.
The law provided also thar re-
turns should be made by those taxed
to the treasury department, to be
used as basis for assessing the tax
These were open to inspection, but in
1910 congress enacted legislation
providing that the returns should be
open To- inspection only upon rules
and regulations approved by Inc
president.
e. The first action in the courts 70
test the constitutionai.y OF the law
was begun in the United States cir
cult court for the district OF Yer
mont A woman began it, Stella P,
Flint, guardian of the property OF
Samuel n. Stone, Jr., l stockhohler
in the Stone-Tracy company, OF
Windsor, VT. began an action to
have the company restrained from
paying the tax. She claimed that the
tax was unconstitutional. Her attof-
ney, MsxEellI Evarts, brought the
[ cass 70 the supreme court, after the
circuit court had declined TO hold
the tax unconstitutional
When sthe Stone-Tracy case came
up f6r argument before the supreme
court in March, 1910, fourteen othl
er cases likewise raising the validity
Of the law and decisions likewise
sustaining The constitutionality or
the tax had!reached the court. They
were advanced and heard with the
original case. Because presumably
of vacancies on the bench the cases
were restored to the docket for re
argument. This reargumeht occurred
= a