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
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