FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



301 



Taxation. The levying of a direct tax for the 



support of the Federal Government involved 

 the apportionment of the tax among the States, 

 according to their Federal representation, since 

 direct taxes, or taxes upon property, are by the 

 Constitution so ordered. Hence, the proportion 

 of the whole tax which each State is required 

 to pay depends, not upon its ability, but upon 

 its numbers. The following table gives the 

 population of each State, the amount of its 

 debt in 1861, the amount of the State valua- 

 tion on which local taxes are levied, and the 

 portion which each State must pay of the Fed- 

 eral tax of $20,000,000 : 



The imposition of this tax falls very un- 

 |nally. Thus, Missouri must pay nearly as 

 .uch as Massachusetts, although the latter has 

 more than double the taxable wealth, and quite 

 five times the actual wealth of Missouri, which 

 has been impoverished by the war opera- 

 tions, while the industry of Massachusetts has 

 been less interrupted by hostilities. The tax in 

 Missouri is two dollars on the thousand of valua- 

 tion ; in Massachusetts, it is less than one dollar. 

 Illinois, with less than half the taxable property, 

 must pay 40 per cent, more tax as compared 

 with Massachusetts ; and taxes on articles of 



consumption will, of course, fall heaviest on the 

 largest population. The aggregate valuation here 

 given is that on which the State taxes are levied. 

 The census gave another estimate of valuation 

 which carried the amount to $16,000,000,000. 



The folio wing shows the Federal representative 

 numbers and the census valuation, distinguishing 

 real and personal property. The aggregate of real 

 and personal property is given at $17,088,417.- 

 635, or $5,792,110,693 in excess of the amount 

 on which the State taxes are levied. Yet in 

 New York and Massachusetts the State valua- 

 tion is the highest. 



