A.NCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



297 



'!!. 1 spirits were regarded as a source of 



;o of tho first importance. During the 

 fiscal year 1863, under a tax of twenty cents 



lilon, tho amount of revenue was $3,229,- 

 990.70. In tho fiscal year 1864, tho tax was 

 twenty cents until March 7th, after which it 

 was sixty cents, and the revenue was $28,431,- 

 797.83. From July 1, 1864, until June 1, 1865, 



;x was $1.50 per gallon, and afterward 

 $2.00. The revenue of the year amounted to 

 $16,995,701.66. The average taxable produc- 

 tion from Sept, 1862, to July 1, 1865, returned 

 to the Department, was 40,537,871 gallons. Tho 



lents of all countries are uniform in favor 

 of taxing spirits to the maximum, consistent 

 with revenue. While any relaxation of the law, 

 on tho one hand, does not benefit the consumer, 

 its stringent enforcement with a regulation of 

 the business will not dimmish the amount which 

 appetite, or industrial necessity, demands for 

 consumption. Under a tax of one dollar per 

 gallon, it was estimated that forty millions of 

 dollars might be annually collected from dis- 

 tilled spirits. With fermented liquors the great 

 difficulty has been to determine the proper mode 

 of collecting the tax and preventing fraud. A 

 tax on malt is impracticable, as also the plan of 

 gauging and assessing the liquor during the pro- 

 cess of manufacture, or while in the fermenting 

 vats. The most acceptable plan for this object 

 approved by the commissioners and leading 

 brewers of the country, was to collect the tax 

 by means of a stamp, printed on insoluble parch- 

 ment paper, to be affixed to each barrel sold and 

 removed from the place of its manufacture, with 

 a requirement that the same be cancelled by the 

 retailer or consumer. With a tax of one dollar 

 per barrel of thirty-one gallons, it was esti- 

 mated that an annual revenue of five millions 

 of dollars would be yielded from this source. 

 A tax on cotton of three cents per pound was 

 laid by Congress early in 1866, which is noticed 

 under the title COTTON. The result of the in- 

 vestigations relative to tobacco, were, that the 

 tax should not be laid on the leaf. The revenue 

 derived from this article was as follows : 



The average annual taxable product of the 

 different kinds of manufactured tobacco, from 

 September 1, 1862, to June 80, 1865, was 42,- 

 809,168 pounds. The income tax was consid- 

 ered as less detrimental to the country than 

 any other form of taxation, with the exception 

 of the excise on spirituous and fermented liquors 

 and tobacco. But the discrimination in tho rate 

 levied on incomes above or below $5,000 was 

 unjust, and in fact a tax on the results of suc- 

 cessful industry and enterprise, and should bo 

 abrogated and tho rate equalized at five per 

 centum. The exemption of six hundred dollars, 



at the time it was adopted, was deemed suf- 

 ficient to enable a small family to procure the 

 bare necessaries of life. Under tho expansion 

 of tho currency, tho purchasing power of one 

 thousand dollars declined until it became no 

 greater than that of six hundred dollars when 

 tho exemption was adopted. By authorizing 

 the deduction of rental, those of an ex< 

 and unreasonable amount were often deducted, 

 and considerable sums might have been gained 

 to the revenue in cities by allowing a de- 

 duction of only a fixed amount. This tax has 

 been assessed on tho income of tho calendar 

 year and not on that of a fiscal year. Thus tho 

 incomes of 1862 were assessed in 1863, and tho 

 tax mainly included in tho receipts of the fiscal 

 year 1864. The receipts from this source, since 

 1863 inclusive, have been as follows : 



Fiscal year 18(53 $455,741 



1864 14,919,27'J 



" 1865 20,567,350 



First six months of I860 64,549,128 



An annual revenue of fifty millions has been 

 estimated from this source. That from banks, 

 in 1865, amounted to $13,579,594, and it was 

 estimated that a similar amount would be col- 

 lected in the immediate future. It was also es- 

 timated that the receipts from licences by the 

 extension of tho revenue laws over the wholo 

 country would be greatly augmented. The 

 revenue from stamps proved to be, perhaps, 

 the most easily collected, with small expense, 

 and with comparatively little fraud. It can be 

 readily augmented, without detriment to tho 

 industry of the country. The adhesive revenue 

 stamps embraced eight different classes or sizes, 

 and thirty-two denominations, varying from 

 one cent to two hundred dollars. They were 

 engraved on steel in an elaborate manner, and 

 were believed to possess every guaranty against 

 counterfeiting which the best skill and knowl- 

 edge could afford. To this security was added 

 the safeguards of gumming and perforation, 

 processes necessary to perfect every stamp, and 

 requiring costly and peculiar machinery. No 

 successful counterfeit of them has thus far been 

 made. Six-sevenths of tho entire consumption 

 has consisted of the two-cent bank-check and 

 receipt stamps, the various proprietary stamps, 

 and the one-cent stamp required to be affixed 

 to matches. Thus the most important results 

 in this department of revenue flow from the 

 smallest stamp taxes universally diffused. In 

 1865 one-third of the stamp revenue was derived 

 from bank-check receipts and match stamps. 

 Considering the small actual tax of one cent on 

 each bunch, and the insignificance of tho busi- 

 ness, as contrasted with many others, this pro- 

 duct of industry probably affords the largest 

 comparative revenue accruing under the excise. 

 A K-:racy and succession tax is based upon the 

 belief that the entire property of the country 

 changes hands onco in thirty years. An 

 estimate at the surrogate's office in New York 

 is that the amount of property annually passing 



