| Show ARE WORKING HARD NO AATIIJTCO3in TAX ARGU3IEXT IS LOST SIGHT OF Guthrie Devotes n Good Portion of the Day In InnirTactlns ihe tmitcd i Stats Supreme Court ou the Subject Sub-ject Washington March 8In the supreme court of the United States today to-day Mr Guthrie resumed his Guthre resume argument argu-ment for the appellants in the income tax cases He discussed the hearing on the fifth amendment of the constitution consti-tution upon the cases and also referred re-ferred to other constitutional provisions provi-sions Referring to the fifth constitutional consti-tutional amendment he said its provision pro-vision that no person should be deprived de-prived of life liberty or property without with-out due process of law had been made for the protection of the people against undue encroachments He contended that any law which would impose a tax on one class of people and not on another was in direct contradiction con-tradiction of this amendment He then returned to the discussion of the question of taxation of corporations In I a different way from which individuals individu-als were taxed and said this point was of transcendent importance in the case reasserting the property of any corporation was the property of the individuals composing it He asserted that if Congress was permitted to discriminate against incorporations in-corporations as in the income law they would virtually have the power to nullify right of states to create corporations cor-porations He closed with an appeal for equality in taxation Its Constitutionality M Seward followed also bpeaklng on hehalf of the appellugvts He argued against the constitutionality of the income tax He devoted himself tote to-te discussion of the questions a to whether the tax was a direct tax and argued that if It was it must under the revision of the constitution be apportioned according to population Referring to the dlcislon in the Springer case upholding the war income in-come tax he said It was the decision of a local court to sustain a law enacted en-acted to maintain the government at a cric time but now the circumstances circum-stances were qufte different with the country enjoying peace He felt thac the Springer decision would not operate I I I case as a bar to the prosecution of thaI caseMr Seward said there had never been a time in the history of the country that state taxes were designated aa other than direct taxes He asserted that an income tax had been levied inmost in-most of the colonies prior to the adoption adop-tion of the constitution The people had then regarded it as 8 direct ta When the words direct tax were wors adopted in the constitution they must necessarily have been given the meaning mean-ing attached to them among the people at large Olr Seward was discussing the question ques-tion of apportionment when Chief Justice Jus-tice Puller interrupted with the question ques-tion Suppose there should not he a sufficient amount arising from the taxation tax-ation of Incomes of over 54000 to meet I the requirements of a given state The Got erjijnent Case It could be done replied Mr Seward Sew-ard on the basis of population which I is the only thing to < tie apportioned to Assistant AttorneyGeneral Whitney then presented the outlines of the government gov-ernment case He explained the difference differ-ence between the two cases from New York and the one arising in the District Dis-trict saying that in the Moore case the effort has been to secure an injunction In-junction against the collection of the tax while in the other two cases the effort had been made to enjoin the payment of the tax the first being an action against the commissioner of internal in-ternal revenue and the two others against the trust companies of which the appellants were stockholders 1 Qloore he said is a rich man who possesses an income exceeding 200000 a year but did not claim to have any property that could bs reached as alien a-lien for the collection of the tax Sir Moore had declared this lav could not apply to an unconstitutional lax but the court had hpld that an unconstitutional tax was still a tax How can Congress make a law compelling 8 man to do a thing which the constitution says ne cannot asked Justice Field But at the suggestion sug-gestion of Chief Justice Fuller that further discussion of the point was unnecessary un-necessary Mr Whitney did not attempt at-tempt t reply and passed on to the Pollock caseA A Direct Vax He said the government had not considered it worth while to go back for centuries for i definition of the phrase direct ta and he devoted himself to the consideration of the origin ori-gin of the in the sln phrase constitution and not to its use since cmrtuton sat1 Congress in considering the nresent law before Its enactment had discussed discus-sed the question as to where tha limit could be drawn so as to protect the poorer classes and the figure of 4000 had been agreed upon after a very thorough comparison of opinions As to the discrimination against corporations corpora-tions he contended the corporations income was necessarily different from that of individuals and hence there must be a different basis for fixing the tax taxMr Mr Whitney had not concluded when the court at 4 oclock adjourned until untI Monday at 2 oclock when after Mr Whitney concludes exSenator Ed munds wU be heard in the case and he in turn will be followed by Attorney Attor-ney General Olney |
