People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1894 — TO RAISE REVENUE. [ARTICLE]

TO RAISE REVENUE.

Important Action of the House Tariff Subcommittee. It Decide* to Levy a Tax of 2 Per Cent, on Personal Income*, and to Increase the Tax on Whlaky and Playing; Card*. INCOMES TO BE TAXED. Washington, Jan. 4. —The advocates of the individual income tax proposition were triumphant at the meeting of the democratic members of the ways and means committee Tuesday afternoon. The eleven members were present when the final meeting was held at the treasury department at 6 o’clock. Comparatively little time was wasted in discussion. The ground had all been argued and fought over time and time again, and Tuesday afternoon the issue was joined on two propositions, one to levy a tax of 2 per cent, against individual incomes over $4,000 and against the incomes from corporations (that is, the difference between the gross income and the operating expenses, or,-in other words, the net income); and, second, a proposition offered as a substitute by Mr. Cockran (N. Y.) to tax the incomes from corporations 1 per cent, and inheritances 5 per cent, to place a tax of ten cents on whisky and to restore sugar to the dutiable list at one-half a cent to a pound. The vote on Mr. Cockran’s substitute proposition, which was taken first, resulted in its defeat—7 to 4. The original proposition was then submitted and carried by a vote of 6 to 5, as follows: Yeas—McMillin, Turner Whiting, Bryan, Bynum and Tarsney. Nyas—Wilson, Cockran, Stevens, Montgomery and Breckinridge. It was also decided, in connection with the latter proposition, to increase the whisky tax ten cents a gallon—that is from ninety cents to one dollar—to be levied against whiskyMn as well as out of bond. Upon the representation that this increase would work undue hardship to the owners of whisky in bond it was. decided to extend the bonded period from three to eight years. The tax on playing cards, at one time fixed at six cents a pack, was reduced to two cents, and the contemplated tax on perfumes and cosmetics was discarded. No increase was made in the tax on cigars, but the increase on cigarettes—sl per 1,000 —was allowed to stand. The committee estimates that the tax on the incomes from corporatiens and individuals (corporations being treated as individuals) will raise $30,000,000 revenue—sl2,ooo,ooo from corporations and $18,000,000 from individuals. The increase in the whisky tax, it is estimated, will give an additional revenue of $1(1000.000 per annum. The proposed tas on inheritance, which was to be levied in case the proposition for an individual income tax failed, was not deemednecessary.