TAXES
Generally speaking, tax bills are paid with reluctance.
This is no doubt due to the fact that with every other form of
payment one has something tangible to show for the expenditure.
If every good citizen could be brought to see that his private
interests are closely linked with public affairs, he would take
more interest in the local politics of his town and county, and so
have a voice in the expenditure of taxes by selecting the best men
to do the work for him.
Taxes are forced contributions levied on citizens to provide money
for public expenses, such as law and order, schools, charities and
public institutions.
All tax laws are made by the men who pay the taxes.
You say "No" to this.
"The tax laws are made by the legislators up at the state
capital."
Very true; but who nominates and elects the legislators? Did you
not put them into office?
"No, the bosses did that," you reply.
True again, but good men are in the majority and if they did their
duty to their country and themselves, there would be no bosses and
taxes would be honestly spent.
KINDS OF TAXES
Tax laws are enacted by Congress, and by the legislatures of our
many states. Taxes cannot be collected without this authority.
State taxes are collected for the state use only.
United States taxes are expended for the benefit of all the people
of all the states.
Taxes may be further divided into direct and indirect.
Direct taxes are, at present, only employed by the states. They
are levied on realty and personal property, and are paid by the
particular person named in the tax bill presented by the
authorized collector.
The amount of these taxes vary each year, depending on the public
requirements.
They are based on assessments made by officers appointed for the
purpose and generally known as assessors.
CUSTOMS DUTY
Though there is no demand made on each individual to pay the
indirect taxes required by the Government, yet indirectly every
person who spends little or much money is paying them.
The Government's chief means of raising the great sums of money
needed yearly to carry on its machinery is by customs duties and
internal revenue collections.
The customs revenue is obtained from a tax levied on certain
articles imported from foreign countries.
This customs tax is called a tariff.
The question as to the goods that shall be subject to a tariff and
the amount to be levied on the same, is one that has long
perplexed statesmen and been a leading party issue.
The merchant, to whom the goods are assigned from a foreign port,
must pay the duty levied on them by a Government Appraiser before
he can take them away.
Private parties, landing from abroad at any of our ports of entry,
are required, before getting their baggage, to write out a
declaration of the things contained in their trunks. But this
declaration does not prevent the customs inspectors from making a
careful personal examination. All things found dutiable, whether
declared or not, are set apart and held until the assessment or
duty is paid.
The evasion of a customs duty is called "smuggling" and is
punished by the confiscation of the goods, and penalties in the
way of fine and imprisonment.
There are people who would consider it a sin to cheat their
butcher, but see no wrong in cheating the Government.
To the merchant who pays tariff duties the amount involved is a
direct tax.
When the merchant sells his goods to the retailer or consumer, he
adds the tariff to his freight, insurance, interest, etc., as
direct purchase cost. This is strict business, but the consumer
pays all the bills with the profit added.
INTERNAL REVENUE
The second great source of Government revenue is derived from the
internal revenue tax, or excise duties.
Manufacturers of alcohol, whether as wine, whiskey, or beer, and
the producers of tobacco, in its manufactured forms, have to pay
an excise tax in proportion to the amount and character of their
products.
As with the customs tax, the excise tax is added by the
manufacturer to the cost of production, so that at last it is the
consumer who pays it.
STAMPS
While the manufacturers of alcohol pay the excise tax in bulk,
that is on the number of gallons produced, the manufacturers of
cigars and tobacco have to attach to each separate package a
distinct internal revenue stamp.
These stamps are purchased from the internal revenue collectors,
appointed by the Government to certain districts. The stamps show
at a glance that the proper tax has been paid, just as the postage
stamp affixed to a letter proves that the price for carrying it
and delivering it has been paid.
As it is a penal offence to use a postage stamp a second time, so
it is a punishable offence to attempt the use of a cancelled or
torn internal revenue stamp.
If demanded, the Government will give a receipt for the sum
received from any one for considerable sales of postal or revenue
stamps.
STATE TAXES
State taxes, as has been stated, are levied on real and personal
property. Some states have in addition a poll tax. This is levied
on the individual without any regard to his property, and a
receipt for it may be a requirement before a citizen is permitted
to vote.
Of course the real estate and personal property taxes are not the
same in all the states, for each state must raise every year the
sum necessary to meet its own special requirements.
The intention of all tax laws is to have every citizen's
contribution bear the same proportion to the whole amount to be
raised that his possessions bear to the aggregate property of all
the owners in the commonwealth.
EXEMPT FROM TAXES
All our state laws exempt from taxation certain kinds of property.
The state cannot tax the property held by itself for the common
use.
The buildings and related properties of religious bodies and
societies are not taxable.
Such educational institutions as colleges, seminaries, and private
charities are not taxed.
Cemeteries and other places where the dead are disposed of are not
taxed.
County buildings, city parks, public schools, penal institutions,
fair grounds for public use and similar property is never taxed.
INSUFFICIENT TAXES
There have been times in the life of the Government, and in the
building up of the states, when the funds necessary for
maintenance from taxes, heavy though these have been at times,
have not been sufficient to meet the essential expenditures.
This was particularly the case with our Government during the
trying days of our Civil War.
States entering on great public works, for the benefit of the
commonwealth, frequently cannot raise the necessary money by the
usual forms of taxation.
In these cases loans have to be made, that is the Government and
the state go out and borrow from those who have it to spare, the
necessary money.
The Government, the state, and it may be the city or county, gives
to the party providing the money what is known as bond or bonds,
each of a fixed amount and bearing a fixed rate of interest,
payable as a rule semi-annually.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
There is no form of property so easy to assess for the purpose of
taxation as real estate, that is the land and the buildings, for
the last selling value of this property is a matter of public
record, and then the assessors, who should be men of honesty and
good judgment, are generally posted as to the value of the
property under consideration.
When, however, it comes to the taxation of personal property,
which means any kind of property that can be detached and carried
about, it is a different matter.
Just as many people, otherwise regarded as honest, do not think it
a great wrong to get the better of the Custom House, so many
reputable people are inclined to revolt against the tax on
personal property and to conceal their actual possessions from the
assessor, nor is this peculiarity confined to the poor.
Any man may be legally compelled to swear to the accuracy of his
statement, and if it is found that he has knowingly sworn to a
false statement, he may be brought to task for perjury.
What is known as "personal property" varies in many of the states.
Personal property generally includes, merchandise in possession;
all fixtures, all furniture in home, offices, and factories; all
live stock, all money on hand and in banks; other men's notes, not
transferred; all stocks and bonds and other forms of security.
TOWN TAXES
Townships or counties, if properly authorized by charter or the
votes of the people, may levy special taxes for special purposes
within the limits of their own jurisdictions, or they may in the
same way sell bonds to carry out some work that has been decided
on for the common weal.
Two or more towns, or counties, may join in the same way to carry
out a project of benefit to both, provided that the burden of the
undertaking be equitably assessed.
PAYMENTS
All tax bills are due and collectable on presentation, but this is
never enforced.
A time is, however, fixed beyond which payment cannot be deferred.
A sufficient amount of any property may be sold at auction to
satisfy a tax bill.
Of old, and still in some places, the road taxes were paid in
cash, but more frequently by work on the roads, either by the
individual man, or in connection with his team, each day's work of
one or both being fixed at a regular rate.
TAXING CORPORATIONS
The state does not tax the individual members of a corporation for
property held in common. The same result is secured better by
taxing the corporation as a body. This applies to banks,
railroads, and incorporated manufacturing establishments.
Savings banks are taxed lightly. Every depositor is liable for a
personal property tax proportioned to the amount of his credit.
To make collection easy the savings bank always pays the amount of
this tax in bulk, and then charges it to the expense account of
the establishment, so that indirectly the depositors pay after
all, as their dividends are reduced by just the amount of the tax.
TAXES IN GENERAL
When a man owns property in different towns, counties, or states,
he is regarded as so many individuals, and must pay each as the
local demands require. No matter where a man's personal property
is placed, the rule is to tax him for the whole at the place of
his usual residence.
The landlord and the merchant each pays a direct tax to the
collector, but it would be a business error to think that in so
doing either or both is carrying more than his share of the total
taxation.
The landlord keeps in mind the added expense when he comes to
adjust leases with his tenants. The merchant, who pays taxes on
his stock and so adds to his expense account, should not be blamed
if he keeps this in mind when he fixes the selling prices of his
goods.
THE RETURNS
Taxes duly paid, honestly collected, and properly expended should
never be regarded as a burden.
From no equal expenditure of money do the people get so much good.
The public schools, the public highways, the protection of life
and property, public hospitals, public libraries, residences for
the old, the blind, the orphaned and the insane, as well as secure
places for the lawless, are built and maintained by the taxpayer.
As a rule all these things are done honestly and well,
notwithstanding the outcry to the contrary.
If there be dishonesty in places, it is the fault quite as much of
the voter who selected him as of the official culprit himself.
We must take all the responsibility of our agents, whether they be
public or private.
Every good citizen should feel that his public duty is an
important private business.