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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1913)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND. MAY 18, 1913. I 1 L : I r . Kr.V fT'X'l 40 oicmuTlin.ackfBuIl Durham, cost. Deems gaac tooaccos cornea: - j . - - T : IncomcTqx WillBePata by CWMdaOtA Of Every WWkcj HANDS up, an Te people of wealth.. il" WWt ' j'i iTV and dl.srorre! . ffJHZZ:-mxtt v ( T?! I 111 111 ITncl. StmtioL In th rulw -of 15 ' ? i u si ' 5 ' i I . I f t! II the House committee of ways and means of the present extra session of Confess, Is after you. He la s-oinr to shake yon down this year to the tune of a hundred million dollars. He considers that he Is letting you off easy, and bat setting; his band In. that he may hereafter (TO after you for amounts that are really worth while. For, he has concluded, the people of fairly rood to simply enormous Incomes' should hear the brunt of taxpaylngr. while the man who Is able to merely cet along; should have his burdens lightened. The special session of Congress Is going to fix Je matter up. It Is all to come about through the brand-new amendment of the ConsUtutlon which prorldes that a tax may be levied on Income. For, be It known. Congress has found a hitherto nnuaed way to extract from the publlo that billion dollars that It annually spends. All of which means that this great ' Government nss a new fiscal scheme. Tt has found a new way to raise its money. It Is even now engaged in the most sweeping rearrangement of Its whole financial system that It has ever undergone. It Is no longer to.be de pendent upon the money that It re reives from Its custom-houses. It hss developed a schame through which it believes that It may force the rich to bear the greater share of the Govern mental expense. And the rich , have got to walk the plank. So stand up and be counted, plesse. A Tex the Rich. Most of the SO.000.009 will be able to entirely sidestep any payments under the income tax. Vnless the individual has an income of at least $4ion a year "ne is not to be counted as a contributor under this plan. The Idea Is that those with large Incomes receive greatest benefits from the Government, are ablest to pay and should therefore bear the larger part of the burden of tax ation. So. when the Income goes above 11000 a year, the individual who receives it vhould allow the Government to share In his prosperity. The bill which will take this money has been only tenta tively framed, but It Is understood that the $4000 man will be called upon to pay Into the Federal treasury : 1" per cent of his Income. All those people Whose' Incomes range in these figures between $4000. and $20,009 wlll .be re quired to contribute upon' this basis. So It is obvlons that people whose Incomes range In these figures will find It necessary to pay to Uncle Sam each year sums of from $40 to $200. These are people of comparative wealth having the equivalent of from $109,000 to $500,000 Invested. Then there Is the' next class of" peo ple who have proven themselves a bit more efficient a, magnets for money. These people have Incomes that rano;e from $20,009 to $50,000 a year, and who Enough "Bull" Durham was sold last year to roll approximately 22,000 cigarettes every minute of every day THE cowboy riding his lonely night watch; the million aire at his club; the toiler in the factory; the "chief" in his office; the sailor before the mast; the admiral in his cabin; the soldier in the barracks; the general in his "quarters";-men of every nation, occupation and class all find unequalled enjoyment and satisfactioh"u the good old "Bull" Durham Tobacco in the homely 5-cent muslin sack! A book of "paper free with each 5c muslin sack begin to get into, the millionaire class. An Individual need have but half a mil lion to secure the former sum and may still be comparatively a poor man. Four per cent bonds to the amount of a mllr Hon and a quarter would produre the maximum Income under this classifi cation. The people whose fortunes were in these figures and whose incomes were In the second classification would be called upon to pay 2 per cent upon them. The man who drew down his $20,000 a year or a little better would have to pay each year $400 to the Fed eral Government. , If he were so un fortunate as to lraw the maximum In come of this class he would be forced to separate, himself from a thousand pcrfectlj- good dollars because of his prospprlty. Heaviest on the ftlcbrflt. This Individual misht have one bit of consolation, for rf his Income had been but a Utile Isrger and run above the $;n,poo mark he would have had to pay 3 per cent, for this rate applies on in comes between $50,00 and $100,000. The stipend paid b5". these people of the third classifications will range from $1500 a year to $3000. Then there la the tlnal class, which includes all people who have incomes of . more than $100,000 a year which amount would represent investments of some $2,500,000. All these people will probably be called upon to; pay 4 per cent upon their Incomes. ' They will pay Income taxes from' $4000: for the modest millionaires up almost to a mil lion a year for the men of very great est wealth. There are men of the Rock efeller and Carnegie class with Incomes of $20,000,000 a year' who would be taxed through this levy alone $800,000 annually. -After, bearing this hardship they would have but a lUtle more than $19,000,000 to pull through the season upon unless they -went out and made 44 SMOKING TOBACCO (FORTY "ROLLINGS" IN EACH 5-CENT MUSLIN SACK) Last vcar alone enough "Bull" Durham was sold to make approximately 12 billion cigarettes about the same number as al! brands of readv-made cigarettes in this country combinedl This proves that the majority of smokers know that cigarette rolled from "Bull" Durham Tobacco affordgreater enjoyment and satisfaction than any ready-made cigarettes they can buyi Here are fieures every smoker should know: Get a 5-cent muslin sack of "Bull" Durham Way at the 10 ordinary ready-made cigarettes cost . . 5 cents nearest dealer's - pack some in your pipeor roIL some 0 better ready-rnade cigfrettes cost . .. . . ; 10 cents . ma. cigarette -and learn Bull" Durham has been- ' 10 more expensive ready-made cigarettes cost 25 cents the standard smoking tobacco of the world .for three ?. VS. J JL--.ti..rnll4:1 fmm erations-smokcd by more millions of men than all other high- J AOI me very ucm F""'""- 6m..vw . Zll 1 i: t "R.,11" n.irKam rnsf D rents I J one IIlUSUll 3dl.iv ui uu" . fffY s ' Vas iff i i' Val N b;. , . I III some pin money in the stock market or k jt cnoH Investment that might serve the purpose of keep-I ing the wolf from the door. The Idea of the income tax that is lust now being framed up by the ma jority members of the committee on ways and means ' that the very wealthy should be taxed more heavily than the poor, even In proportion to wealth. Four per cent is a heavy tax as taxes go, but this tax is merely upon clear GENUINE BSULL DiJllHlK eWsi i issssse aw asssssw " ' ' ';;",tl "liuit iim mi money, and applies only in Proportion to the ability to bear it. Back of It is a conviction that the people who are greatly Deneniea Dy me v neritv should contribute largely toward nointoinintr the Government, The Dresent Idea, in the minds of the mem k. ff rone-res Is that the taxes on the lararer Incomes will, be steadily in creased until 10 and IS and 20 per oent will be collected on those Incomes that , ohove tlOO.000 a year. Whenever this tax Is pushed up, these Congr eas nrnrir tobaccos combined ' graac tooaccos comoinea . - Mere TW40OOa men hold, a tax that is being paid by the individual Who can 111 afford it may be reduced. A Substitute for the Tariff. - Tk. nr..pnt is the busiest Congress tfint was ever called in the matter of actual tariff reduction. It is going to actually reduce 'the tariff because me innmn in will E-ivo it a means or rais- ino- tha monev that it will lose by do ing so. Uncle. Sam needs his little bil lion dollars every year, w s and the tariff has been playing a prom inent part in furnishing it. It was therefore a difficult thing to cut the tariff because the Government naa have the money. Even the Democracy mitrv,f have- heen considerably embar rassed had it not "had in hand a ready means of levying a substitute tax. And this came about largely by accl- aem. ii tttino .vu -- - - man in the House. -Representative Cor dell Hull; or Tennessee, was a ysar-ln and year-out enthusiast on the income tax, and Senator Joseph W. Bailey in sisted on heckling the Republican ma jority In tne eenaie. i iit- simj -manner of it is interesting. nnff.,mflTi ITnll U n vonnfstfir lust turned 42, and has been In Congress four years already. When he came to Washington from the. village of Car thage In' the black-land of Tennessee he brought -with him one all-absorbing Idea, and this was that tne income mi was the . one great and good and Just . .. r.l.lna- mihlffT flinds. Not uiauuci 1 . only did he have the idea, but he had oornplled a vast array or racts 10 dc. up bis arguments and, after arriving in T-- -1. In Anw Va .llldlo Q Trl a n A t Pfl tl- Ily increased that array of facts. When ever, in the deliberations ot tne tiouse, there was a perceptible pause. Con- ...n XTiiTI arnan an A nHHrenned that ft cdclu J -. - - body on the subject of the Income tax. Just Oae Mai Did It. ThA nld heads told the young man from Tennessee that legislation of this sort, being class legislation, was un constitutional. "The Supreme Court of the United- States had soi declared" In 1894, Mr. Hull remained unconvinced. He reminded Congress that this coun try had had on its statute books a per fectly good Income tax law levied dur ing the- Civil War and operative unui 1S71. . Through all those years taxes had been collected under It. 'If the law was unconstitutional, those taxes were unlawfully collected and should B re funded. Hull introduced a resolution rafnndine- all those taxes, amounting In all. to $346,000,000. Nothing' came of the resolution, but these tactics Kept the matter alive. olnanw . that tlma rr1r Wi . 15fi3 when the' Paine-Aldrlch tariff bill was being fought through congress m tne early days of the Taft administration. One night yonng Hull found himself on a sleeping car with Senator Bailey, the one bound for the quiet village of Carthage and the other for his horse i-n Tt . n 1 1 in V - ThA vnnnrpr man told Senator Bailey his fervid tale of the Income tax. garnisnea wun an tne earnestness of a great conviction. Bailey saw In the situation presented an opportunity to harass the Repub licans, who were Already In a very del icate position with- reference to the - So, in the midst of the deliberations of a Republican Congress upon a tarirt bill that afterwards was used as a club to mercilessly hammer tnat party, uen f ator Bailey introduced an amendment providing for an income tax. Much to his surprise, it proved re markably popular, despite the fact that the Supreme Court had declared it un constitutional. Congress seemed strong ly Inclined to pass it. That portion of tne Congress that believed in a high . ...Iff 11 Tl.i w hich had long dominated, realized that an income tax mMTit that the tariff .would come tum bling about their heads, for here was provided another way oi raisins t.,j nH that wav was neceaaui j -; . - - more popular than raising it through tariff levies. Proves Unexpectedly Popular. The protectionists were forced to take to cover, to compromise rather than surrender, to postpone rather than .v, tD immediately. They of- iijcci ' fered'a corporation tax In lieu of an Income tax. They offered to' submit a constitutional amendment providing for an income tax, rather than to allow its Immediate passage. "... Not even the high protectionists in any great numbers protested against this, although they were receiving a mortal wound. It would have seemed that they were unaware of the end that would be actually accomplished. Probably they did not believe that it would ever be ratified by the necessary , - - n. Thov did not even fight against its ratification In the Iut the Income tax amendment am bled down the lane and was ratified by one state after another. The 36th state acted soon after the election of Pr:!H(iiit and a Demo- a Jjeinuviai"- . . ....... cratlc Senate. The new method of rais ing monev was compieit-a in jubi. mo nick of time for use by the party that had long urged reduction of tariff but which might not have been able to materially reduce the tariff had not a means been presented to raise the nec essarv money In a different way, for the maw of governmental administra tion yawns continuously and . nothing short of a billion dollars a year will satisfy it. .,' So the new congress, pieasuu ' duce the tariff, may do so to its heart's content. It has but to figure out the amount cf money. that will be lost by its reductions and arrange for the rais ing of that money through tlie tax on incomes. It lias made up its mind, for instance, that It may giv over the $50 000,100 a vnar it gets from its duty on 'sugar and a like additional sum from other sources. It is to sacrifice $100,000,000 In customs as a starter. This it regards as a small amount and not to be compared to the ultimate re ductions. It wants to begin lightly on the income tax In order that it may not be made unpopular. Counting the Millionaires.. The ways and means committe there fore wants to know how meny men there are In this country who have incomes of $20,000,000 a year. It wants to go beyond the two Rockefellers and Carnegie and Morgan and the few others who are suspected of having such an income. .Then it wants to find out who have $10,000,000 incomes and $1,000,000 incomes and so on down to $4000 a year. If yQu have not this latter Income you are not of interest to this committee. The treasury will be called upon to enforce the income tax law and will be provided with means to find out just how large Is the income of one and all. It will take a census of wealth and woe unto him who falls to prop- ' erlv report all the money that comes ifr hi, mffvr-a for there will be severe penalties fcr misrepresentation. There are no figures upon which to base an estimate of the number of peo ple who will be affected by the In come tax law. The experts whose busi ness it is to get as near as possible to the facts state their beliefs that there will be 800.000 people In the United States who will be found to have in- i mtnnn a tout- This Is. how- comea n-uuvo " " " J -. . ever, but an estimate and there are no known facts, it tnis nguro i Kuuoi-t iji, i,i,iu nut of everv 120 among us who will be touched by the aThe facts as to Income will not be as difficult to obtain as might be sup- i . - . 1 ....... mncu Fit thltt ln- poseo. r ur lue twak - formation the collectors will not go to the lnaiviuuais receivius but to Its source. Most men work for other men on salaries. The employer . . . ...... ......I, Eiimlnvn All Knows ihb Baioi j ' " employers will be asked to report all . . i ,IMA . . -. - Cn will salaries aoue a. j - ---- the bulk of the information be secured. The Individual will not even be asked for his tax. The employer will be called upon to hold it out and pay tt into the Government. The victim will never see a tax collector. How the Money Is Collected. There Is another great group of In comes that are based upon dividends paid upon stocks and bonds. The gov ernment may likewise go to he foun tain source and ascertain who is toe holder of those stocks and bonds anl the amount of dividends. The tax may be taken out of this dividend before It Is ever paid to the stockholder. JheTe will be a small group of men such as those following the profess one at whose incomes it will be difficult to - -rive These men will be asked to six In ihelr assessments. They will be carefully watched to determine whether or not they are spending money beyond a declared -lncomr. There will be a large corps of special scents of the Treasury Department, who will watrh this class of men Just as tbey now watch the class of Indi viduals who may be suspected of smuggling. They will get at the facts and woe unto- him who evades for he is most likely to see the inside of a prison. , . All of which is very new to Ameri can taxpayers of fhe twentieth cen turv hut was familiar to our fathers when those fathers had the price. This tax is likewise an' old story in Europe ns It is In Japan. England having no tariff, bears down more heavily on this tax than any other country and her system ia very comnlicatcd. The Idea Is to begin most simply here but. as Americans are so stupenduously wealthy, a simple income tax will re sult most handsomely. It is even sug gested that the percentage of the tax on large incomes be steadily Increased until ten or twenty or fifty per cent of the big incomes be turned Into the public treasury. For what use can a man have for more than half an In come of $20,000,000 a year? So might the poor be entirely relieved of the burden of taxes. So, ye of the fat porketbook! Stand up and be counted. There are a hun dred and twenty of your fellows who are escaping the tax which you are paying. For once the man of modest means has the laugh on him whose pockets bulge. For the special session of Congress Is after him of the big In come. . (Copyright, 1913, by w. a. iu ruM I J