300 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



tax shall pay it directly to the government, and save any 

 intermediate profit, but this is a matter often hard to deter- 

 mine; the real incidence of taxation is a vexed question in 

 economics, and while in the main authorities seem to agree 

 that the "consumers" pay nearly all taxes except those on 

 fixed incomes, yet sometimes they do not. The fact is that 

 whoever pays a tax does his best to pass it on to some 

 one else by adding it to the price of some commodity or use, 

 but sometimes does not succeed. That it always in the end 

 falls upon the weakest is about the only general statement 

 that seems to me entirely truthful, and tlie weakest is most 

 likely to be the consumer. Sometimes, however, he is not. 

 A very weak consumer who can keep his head is often stronger 

 in a bargain than either of two much stronger men who are 

 competing with each other for his trade.* 



But, aside from the difficulty which exists in locating the 

 real taxpayer, there are considerations which favor the indirect 

 tax. The loss to the taxpayer by the profit of the middle- 

 man is less than it seems, for the taxpayer must pay the cost 

 of collection, and it costs much less to collect from a few- 

 importers or manufacturers than from the entire community. 

 Individuals can entirely escape taxation by refraining from 

 the use of taxed commodities. Except sugar, no important 

 article of prime necessity is now the object of indirect taxation 



* In the case of articles or brands not produced in this country, as tea and 

 Wostenholm knives, it seems evident that the consumer pays all the tax, and 

 yet even in this case the competition of coffee, or of other brands of knives, 

 might compel the producer to sacrifice some part of his profit, which would be 

 equivalent to paying a part of the tax. In the case of products which we 

 export largely, as wheat, it seems evident that the foreign producer must pay all 

 the tax. Some wheat is sent from Manitoba to Minneapolis, and there ground, 

 presumably because the freight to Minneapolis, and the duty, are less than the 

 freight to a Canadian port. While one would think that in this case the 

 Canadian producer must pay the duty, yet it is quite conceivable that the 

 railroads, for the sake of the traffic, might so reduce their freight rates as to 

 practically pay part of it. The subject does not seem to mo profitable for 

 popular discussion, as each alleged case must be examined upon its own merits. 

 The statement in the text seems to me the best general statement that can 

 be made. 



