Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-02-01
INCOME TAX ISSUE In FRANCE

AT this moment when the tax on in
comes is strikingly in evidence in this
country it will be in
UOJectlOn Same structive to examine
A:r the present status of
a similar law pending
for several years in France Collection
OF the tax at its source is the chief OBJ
lection to the American law. The oh1ec-
lions to the pending proposition in
France are many. The divergences of
views that exist between the French
chamber and the senate are too radical
TO be arranged speedily and perhaps the
subject may run along indefinitely.
Nor is the subject new The oppo-
nents of the proposed law in France
maintain that the law is unequal. creates
privileged class and that the inevitable
abuses and tyrannies engendered under
the ancient regime of tax on incomes
precipitated the French revolution.
NJ Raymond Poincare when president
OF the council of ministers. speaking in
the Mouse. said:
The senate. my dear colleagues. will
take up and examine shortly the project
of the tax on incomes. The conscientious
LABOR which the senatorial commission
mas accomplished will end in a system
which will introduce more justice in the
TAX without subjecting citizens and par
ticularly agricuturists and merchants to
the investigations and formalities incom-
patible with their habits and the liberty
of domestic hearths''
LIE Temps. commenting upon NJ. Poin-
cares speech. said: The well known
principles of the president of the council
are guarantees against UBIQUITOUS legisla
ton And this journal added: The prof.
ect was the institution of miserable in
QUESTION.
The objections to the present project III
France today are the same in the six
tenth and seventeenth centuries when
the noble and peasant alike held the
Italia or tax on incomes in repugnance.
and when the courts condemned the pro-
ceedings as tyrannical. On a question to
know II the fisc had the right to break
the seals of notarial archives in order to
ascertain the. fortune of a taxable the
court of aides de Paris replied in a
decision dated January IT, 1864;
such an extraordinary proceeding can
not be admitted. 1t is opposed to the
principle of public free
Opposed to dom in France that per-
QUESTIONS should be made
into family secrets to dis
cover the source of revenue"
This is the same principle invoked by
NJ. Poincare before the general council
of the Mouse. and being profoundly i'm
bedded in the spirit of the Frenchman
it is extremely doubtful if the senate ever
agrees to vote the tax on incomes in its
present form.
The project submitted to the French
chamber in 1907 by NJ. CaillauX. then
minister of finance in the cabinet of NJ
C1emenceau, suppressed all direct con-
tributions amounting to o1o.000.oo0 francs.
or S114.000.000. and substituted seven
classes of tax on the revenues.
The first. land built upon; second, land
| without buildings: third. personal prop
| erty and furniture: fourth, revenues from
commerce and industry; fifth. benefits
| from agricultural exploitation: sixth. sal
aries. public and private: seventh. rere-
nue. from liberal professions varying from
3 to 4 per cent There were minimum
| exemptions for categories .. & and 4. In
| addition there was a tax upon the whole
| revenue commencing from $1,000. with
progression up to $4,000. This project
| was considerably modified by the cham
| Der.
| For the tax on incomes the chamber
| admitted exemptions and it resulted that
! the real tax was reduced. For example,
| for property built upon a minimum was
| unbuilt upon minimum of 625 francs. or
1925: for salaries. minimum of 800
francs or $500. to 5000 francs, or sou,
| according to circumstances.
The project voted in the chamber has
been changed considerably by the sena-
torial commission.
The chamber suppressed the tax on
licenses, but the senate. with other
changes. revived it. A
Legislative general tax on incomes is
n;f.-.roa. proposed to replace the
tax on personal property
and the ancient tax on doors and win
dows. The senate has not yet decided
about accepting the simple declaration of
the taxa BILE. opposed to the outward
indications to the values possessed In
habitations. the number of domestics,
carriages, automobiles, pleasure boats in
surance furniture. etc. Many dues-
tons are held in allegiance, and the inn
preston exists that the senate will defer
action indefinitely.
For fact, the senatorial project is very
much mixed, in A transitive state. and is
being discussed and constantly amended.
The basis of the bill reported by NJ.
Almond differs materially from that
passed by the chamber In 1%9
The different projects submitted to the
French chamber within the last twenty
years are as follows:
NJ kibot in 1895. proposed a system
confined to a tax upon furniture: NJ.
Cochery. in 1894. in the Meline cabinet.
proposed the imposition of series of
taxation which included tax on the
rente: NJ. Doumer, In 1895. in the cabinet
Bourgeois. substituted d general person.
al progressive tax on incomes in place
doors: the maximum tax to he :,
per cent on incomes exceeding Joo0o
francs. or slO.Nn: NJ Petral, in 1888,
introduced a resolution based upon in
dications of income. houses. donestics.
horses and carriages: NJ. CaillauN. in
1850. cabinet Waldeck Rousseau. submit
ted a project aboishing doors and win
doWs and personal property taxation,
and substituted tax on incomes.
\ tax on incomes is not inspiration
of modern governments. but the resur-
rection of a fiscal system which had
been practiced in ancient times in
Athens, Rome. Florence and in France.
1t Is, indeed, the establishment of the
"tai1le' "capitation'' and twentieth
all Of which were forms of personal con-
tributions employed under the ancient
regime, which thus reached or endeavor-
ed to reach. the fortunes of the taxable
in proportion to their capacity. This
regime it should be said. failed to accom-
plish its object in the eighteenth
fury, and one of the first acts of the
constituent assembly suppressed it.