Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1884 — INTERNAL TAXATION. [ARTICLE]

INTERNAL TAXATION.

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The annual report of the Hon. Walter Evans, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1884, has been submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury. The total receipts from all sources of internal revenue taxation for the year were $121,590,039, as compared to $144,553,344 for the year 1883, $146,523,273 for the year 1882, and $135,229,912 for the year 1881. It is estimated that $115,000,000 will be collected during the present fiscal year. The Commissioner says a falling off is anticipated in the present year that will follow from the diminished quantity of bourbon and rye whiskies produced in 1882, on which the tax will mature during the current fiscal year. Another cause contributing to the reduction of receipts will be the largely increased exportation of spirits in bond, on which, for various reasons, the owners cannot pay the tax. Something like 10,009,000 gallons have already been forced abroad during the current calendar year. A comparative statement of the receipts for the fiscal years 1883 and 1884 shows a decrease of $16,041,850 from tobacco, an increase of $2,536,610 from spirits, an increase of $31,184,338 from fermented liquors, and a decrease of $10,642,404 from the taxes under , the repealed laws an 4 penalties, making a total decrease of $22,963,305. The total expenses were a little less than 41-5 per cent of the amount collected. The Commissioner says the diminution of the gross receipts could not proportionately affect the cost of collection, as nearly the same force had to be retained. By comparing the receipts for the last fiscal year with those for the fiscal year immediately preceding it the decrease of revenue from tobacco was $16,041,849. There was an increase of 41 in the number of grain distilleries registered during the last fiscal year and a decrease of 18 in the number operated. The increase in the number registered occurs, as was the case in the preceding fiscal A year, in the class of distilleries having smaller capacities for the production pf spirits. In the class of larger distilleries a very decided reduction occurs, both in the number registered and the number operated. A comparative statement of the spirits of different kinds known to the trade remaining in the warehouse at the close of the fiscal years 1883 and 1884 shows that while there was an increase in the stock of alcohol, gin, highwines, and pure spirits, there was a decrease in other grades of spirits, principally in bourbon and rye whiskies, of 17,750,694 gallons. Nearly two-thirds was bourbon whisky. The quantity of spirits produced and deposited in the distillery warehouses during the fiscal year is greater than the production for the year 1883 by 1,422,431 gallons. The quantity of spirits withdrawn from distillery warehouses for the year is greater than the quantity withdrawn during the year 1883 by 2,901,387 gallons. The quantity of distilled spirits in the United States, except what may be in customs bonded warehouses, on Oct. 1,1884, was 96,810,521 gallons.