Valdez daily prospector., 1913-04-26
SATURDAY. APRIL. 26, 1913.
THE INCOME TAX.

All indications are that lher" will be more debate in congress < over the income tax than over the customs provisions of the tarlt bill The conferences and pre- liminary discussions have about fixed the measure of reductions that will be made on the differ ent tariff schedules and the de- bate will wax warm around the income tax levy.
 The hottest fight. we fancy, will 4wage about the exemption figure, (which has been set at Si,0OO. There is a very large body of re- spectable opinion which holds that the figure is too high, that it so limits the number of COL tributOrs as to make it class leg islation of vicious sort and that it will encourage extravaganza in congress by enabling that body easily to raise revenues that will be collected from politically un- influential class. On the other haid, it is argued a lower eX- emption, one that makes con- tributors of large section of tho people, will insure economy, for then, by reason of their nuni- bers, the income taxpayers will form an influential class.
 Professor E. R. A. Seligman, of Columbia university, one of the foremost taxation authorities of this country, is said to favor $3,- 900 as an exemption figure, while Professor Henry R. Seager, an- other authority, thinks it should be as low as 5000. The argu- ment in favor of the higher eX- emption is. first, that it is d more equitable One in that the average man with the larger income is better able tu pay the tax, and therefore is called upon to make less of sacrifice than the man with small income and. second. the practicable consideration that a low exemption would arouse hostility tO the income tax idea and possibly cause it's overthrow before fair trial of il could be had.
 NhtI her the Si .0OO exemption figure will stand. and whether, indeed the size of the tax will re- main as it is in the bill which has been presented, will probabl> depend upon he final action up- on the income tax provisions. For the prime purpose of the income tax the law is lu provide for the decrease in revenues that will fol- low upon the lowering of duties. and the larger the decrease the larger must be the income tax revenue. The expected revenu" from the proposed income tax IS Si2O, ,OOO, ,OO0. though the basis upon which that estimate was ar rived at has not been made pub- lie. The receipts from corpora tiOnS are not likely tu be appre- ciably larger than those now re- ceived from the federal excise tax on corporations, which last year amounted to about $28,O00,0O0 The reduction of the exemption figure from S5 .O00 to 5000 will add something to that total, but hardly more than a million .nl two. It is pgobably difficult {" figure out what the receipts from Individuals will be. but in this connection it is tO be noted that the state income tax of WlScOn- sin, which is apparently an ex = ceedingly well administered tax, produced in the year 1912 only S1,tO8,0O0 from firms and indI- viduals. Wisconsin in the last three years has furnished about one fOrty-eiehih of the corpora tion excise tax receipts, showing it to be an average state so Tar as corporation prosperity is con- cerned. In the matters of man. ufacturing and bank deposit. it ranks we'll above tho average, and therefore might be expected to furnish more than an average share of the individual incom2 tax. Yet if we multiply it's figure by 48 we get an estimate of about S52,OOO,00O receipts from indi- viduals. or something between