The Washington herald., 1915-05-22
Making the East Pay.

! The figures on national wealth compiled by
the Census Bureau are encouraging in showing
that the wealth of the people in the United States
has increased about IS fold since 1885,. or from
ST. SO 100000 in 1850 to SI87739oooooo in 1912.
Some of our pcssirnists will also find apparent
confirmation of their theory that this wealth is
conferred in the East, by discovering that $2S,-
600 600 900 of this national wealth is in New York
State 100000 in Pennsylvania and like sum
IN Illinois; but ii they will look little farther they
will find that Iowa has billion more wealth than
Massachusetts, California two billion more, and
Texas half billion more. In 1850 these Western
States were largely unoccupied government lands
and these have gone into homesteads and produced
individual wealth. The people in the West have
accumulated more from nothing than old Massa-
chusetts has increased from the wealth she had
sixty years ago.
There is another evidence Of the prosperity of
the West in the per capita wealth For the whole
country the per capita wealth is $I.o65, but for
Nevada this per capita wealth is $4,S65; for Iowa
$s,345; for North Dakota $3.2Io; for California
|$3,II3; for Nebraska $2,o54; for Montana $2,743
for Kansas Sass; for Oregon S2,523 and for ILL
nois S. 5o7. In none of the Eastern States is the
per capita of wealth as high as $4,000.
These statistics as to wealth might have been
illuminating if Congress had had them when the
income tax amendment under consideration.
The demand for that income tax came from the
West and the South, and some of its advocates
did not hesitate to say that its purpose to
make the rich East pay the bulk OF these income
taxes. The report of the first years income tax
receipts show not only that the people OF the East
paid the bulk of these taxes, but that they also
paid higher per capita of income tax. and
higher percentage of income tax on their total
III * 4.
3,eo5,5oo population and paid into the Federal
Treasury S. 5o4 o66 80 tax under the three heads,
corporation excise corporation Income and indi-
vidual income. The people of Massachusetts,,
therefore, paid to the Federal government FIVE
tenths of mill for each dollar of their total
wealth and one dollar per capita under the income
tax law The people of New YORK did even bet
ter than those OF Massachusetts, and paid nine
tenths of a mill for each dollar of their total
wealth and S2.24 per capita Federal income
tax. Illinois paid four-tenths of 4 mill total
wealth and $I.o7 per capita to this tax; Ohio paid
four -tenths of mill total wealth and 66 cents
per CAPITA Pennsylvania paid six-tenths OF a mill
on total wealth and $I.I2 per capita: California
paid two-tenths of mill total wealth and SO
cents per capita; Iowa, with next to the largest
per capita wealth. paid seven-hundredthS of a
mill on her total wealth and "a cents per capita
to the Federal government under the income tax
law. North Dakota paid IA cents per capita,
Nevada 81 cents, Nebraska IS cents and Kansas
2I per capita.
The total wealth of these Western States is
not given in the figures far published by the
Census Bureau and it would be unfair to guess at
them. But the figures for Iowa are illuminating
showing that the people OF that great and rich
agricultural State paid less than one-tenth OF the
percentage tax total wealth and one-tenth the
per capita income tax, that paid by the people
OF the Empire State. Some OF the Western men
in Congress said that the purpose of the income
to make the big industrial States sup
port the Federal government. The census report
on wealth and the Internal Revenue Commission
crs report the collections of the income tax,
tend confirm their prophecies.