Mark plainly all goods shipped.
CHAPTER XVII
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 inst.i.tutions.
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 a.s.sessments made by officers appointed for the purpose and generally known as a.s.sessors.
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 a.s.signed 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 a.s.sessment 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.