Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-16
The Income Tax

AS soon as the bill goes into erect, the people
of this country will be subjected, for the first time
in nearly SO years, to an income tax.
Few persons living have ever felt the effect OF
direct taxation by the federal government, and thus,
despite the numerous changes in the tariff schedules
which it is hoped may reduce the cost of living and
thus bear materially upon the personal welfare Of the
acitizens tits the income tax feature of the new enacts
tment that most Immediately interests the people OF
the United States. On the 1st of January next every
citizen in this country, whether residing at home Or
abroad, and every person residing here, even though
not a citizen, must prepare to pay upon his net in
come a tax of l per cent, with certain exemptions.
This tax will be due on that date for ive-sixths of
the calendar year 1918 and thenceforth will be due
for each full calendar year.
While the new income tax bears most heavily and
Importantly upon persons of large income, a large
number of the people are concerned in it to some
extent. Every unmarried person with a net income
md by net income is meant that enjoyed over and
"bove the cost Of maintaining a business, and not the
cost Of personal or family living-must pay a tax OF
l Ter cent a year on the excess of the income over
$4,000. Thus an unmarried person with an income OF
S4,9 900 a year must pay a tax on 81 900 a year, or $40,
annually, or fye-sixths Of that amount for the current
calendar year.
t.a. A married person with al income of $4,000 a year,
or a man and wife whose joint income is $1,000, must
pay a tax of ! per cent on $1,000, or $40, annually.
No exemptions are made for children, though they
were originally proposed. The only exemptions, in
deed, are those OF $4,000 in the case of the unmarried
person and $4,000 in the case of the married person
or husband and wife living together.
With respect to the husband and wife it is i'm.
portant to note that the 1oint income is computed as
a whole, with but one exemption Of $4,000, That is to
say, if the husbands income is $4,000 andsthe wife's
income is $500, they must Jointly pay 4 per cent on
ST 900, the amount Of their joint income over the
Exemption. If the income of the husband is 81, 900 and
that of the wife is 81, 900 they must still pay $40 a
year tax, even though each is covered by, the exemp
ltion. This is provided to prevent the shifting of the
individual incomes of husband and wife to bring the
total below the exemption point. '
If the law is enforced in the spirit of it's enactment
the government will be exacting in the collection OF
minor sums in small incomes, as well as the major
sums from the large incomes, upon which ~surtaxes
are levied in increasing ratio as the income increases
It is, of course, from the larger incomes that it is
expected to raise the bulk of the $50, 900, 900 which
has been estimated as the product of this new mode
of taxation. The average individual income of the
United States is probably we'll below the exemption
named by the law, so that a minority of the people
will pay this tax. Nevertheless, it will bear indirectly
upon all in it's effects, as it is impossible to assess &
tax upon any class of the people without in some
measure distributing the burden universally through
establishments Of prices, rents and wages. 81