| Show THE II OF INCOME A ft OP OF THE various methods of taxation rei rel i aa e 10 sorted to by governments the dir direct act is most obnoxious the necessity of taxation is apparent to all but a poll tax or income tax no matter how light is always regarded with aversion by iye the people and indirect taxation though much heavier is more palatable the reason for this is nor not difficult to explain let a man be subject to a tax of live cents on the dollar I 1 and if it be collected indirectly that is by taxing and BO so eom compelling him to pay an increased price for the necessaries or luxuries of life he will bear it with some show of patience patie nee oce while a tax say of three cents on the dollar ollar if collected directly as the income tax is is looked upon as an intolerable nuisance and thousands will resort to any device rather than pay it this is the experience and feeling general in the country at the present time the enormous expenses entailed upon the government by the late war led to a system of taxation in this country so general in character that from being one of the most lightly taxed people on the globe directly the reverse is now the case but not one of all the taxes it has been found necessary to impose has been regarded with so much aversion as the income tax when the law imposing it was wai passed there was a pledge given that the tax should cease with the close of the year 69 that pledge has not been kept and the enemies of the administration are not slow in reminding it of this promise and because ef wf this and the fact that the popular feeling against it is so strong if the tax be not repealed there is every probability that its rigor will be considerably modified the house of representatives has already taken action in relation to it and the modifications they have resolved on reduce the tax from five to three per cent and fix the point of exemption at two thousand dollars this action of the house will most likely be endorsed by the senate the popular demand being eo so strongly in this direction and thus this burden will be materially lightened quite a number of the members of the house were in favor of total abolition their reasons being that abundance abunda elce fice of revenue could be raised without it judge kelly of pennsylvania in his argument in favor of total repeal showed that the national revenue for the coming fiscal year exclusive of the income tax will amount to and that according to the estimates of the secretary of the treasury will cover the total expenses which will leave to be used towards liquidating the national debt if so large an amount as that could be raised yearly for a similar purpose enormous as is our debt it would not require many years to extinguish it and viewed in this light alone the income tax might be repealed without clogging or impeding the machinery of the government but the majority of the members of the house were against total repeal and in favor of the modifications mentioned above their action we think was waa judicious being probably based on the fact that a general reduction of taxation would be more acceptable and beneficial to the people at large than total repeal repeat in this particular case the number of income tax payers is very small when compared with the whole population and while the few feel and complain loudly of direct taxation it is the many who endure the burden of indirect taxation and in the new tax bill clauses are included to modify the latter by reducing n the tariff on many articles used an and d regarded as among the absolute necessaries of life by everybody now if the income tax had been repealed reductions of the tyne tariff ta on sugar coffee tea and many other ar articles t acles of almost equal importance would not have taken place hence we think the action of the house in legislating for the benefit of the whole people will give the most general satisfaction |
