CHAPTER IV. 



DIRECT TAXATION. 



Mr. Thomas G. Shearman, who is a student of this 

 subject, claims that for the United States, by the substi- 

 tution of direct for indirect taxation, $650,000,000, or 

 nearly one half the present burden, might be saved the 

 people ; the total aggregate weight being $1,350,000,000, 

 made up of the " share to government, profits on levy by 

 merchants, and the action of the tariff in increasing the 

 cost of domestic manufactures." 



The writer's estimate is as follows : United States 

 customs and excise taxes amount to about $335,000,000 

 a year ; domestic manufactures, which now amount to 

 about $6,000,000,000, are increased in price at least 5 

 per cent, (one quarter the average protection), which 

 gives $300,000,000. By adding together the taxes paid 

 into the treasury and that paid the manufacturers, we 

 have $635,000,000, on which the jobbers and retailers 

 get at least 20 per cent., or an aggregate amount of 

 $137,000,000. Thus we have $1,132,000,000, representing 

 the indirect taxes upon the people of the United States ; 

 a yearly tax equivalent to $12.86 per capita, or $64.30 

 for the family of five. If this is the approximate sum of 

 the indirect taxes bearing upon the average farmers of 

 America, it is quite enough to account for the decline of 

 American agriculture. 



163 



