OCR Text |
Show FAVORING OFFICIALDOM. Tho constitutional amendment whioh allows Congress to tax incomes "from whatever eourco derived," clearly did not contemplato tho creation of a specially spe-cially favored class of officials that would bo exempt from the payment of such income tax. Yot the managers .of tho administration tariff bill (which includes tho imposition of tho income revenue tax) are proposing to exorapt from tho payment of incomo tax tho Prcsidont of tho United States and the .Tusticos of tho U. S. Supremo Court. The basis upon which this is proposed is that sinco the Federal constitution provides that tho compensation of theso officers shall not be increased or diminished dimin-ished during their terms of office, and sinco tho imposition of this tax would be an indirect decrease of tho salaries of these officers, therefore it would bo unconstitutional to imposo this tax against them. The President of tho United States has a definite and specified speci-fied term, and yot the salary of the President has been horetoforo increased from time to timo during his incumbency. incum-bency. The Judgos of tho Supremo Court of tho United States havo no spociflod term, but aro appointed for life. And 3"ot their salaries have been increased from time to time, as was just and proper. Tho constitutional inhibition in-hibition against either increasing or decreasing tho salaries of incumbents of theso offices has never been rogardod aa to them heretofore, and so far as tho Justices of tho Supremo Court aro concerned, it could not bo regarded at any time, sinco there is no specified term of offico for them. So that tho constitutional provision, thus strictly applied, would prevent at any and all timo any increase in tho salaries of tho Justices of tho Supremo Court. This, however, would bo an absurdity, and it is a point that has never been regarded re-garded horetoforo. The further pleas that as the Prosldont Prosl-dont is the head of the executive branch of the government, and tho Justices of tho Supreme Court aro at tho head of .the judicial branch of tho government, it would be an intrusion for tho legislative legis-lative branch of the govornment to undertake un-dertake to curtail their salaries, is also a fallacy; because tho increases granted heretofore in tho salarios of tho Prosldont Prosl-dont and of tho Justices of the Su-promo Su-promo Court havo been mado by Congress, Con-gress, as indeed such increases would necossarlly havo to bo mado. 80 that tho plea on this ground is quito as fallacious as tho former plea of tho constitutional bar to the imposition imposi-tion of such tax. Wo do not believe that the Justices of the Supremo Court would interpose any Buch bar against tho imposition of this tax, as now so delicately deli-cately suggested in their bohalf in Congress. Tho amendment allowing of tho imposition im-position of thiB tax was very sweeping, and evidently contemplated no such reservations as those that aro suggested; suggest-ed; and-wo do not believe that tho peo-plo peo-plo of tho United States would viow with any patience, or consider that there is any proprioty, in thoso exemptions exemp-tions as proposed. |