its proportion of the expenses of the general government but an
income tax causes men to commit perjury! Of course the man
who says this would resent the idea that he would commit perjury,
but his evangelical spirit leads him to look with particular care
to the salvation of his neighbor's soul. There is not a state in the
Union today but has laws just as exacting with reference to accounting
with personal property, just as onerous as an income tax
law would be, and just as liable to encourage perjury. Yet the
tax gatherer does not stop gathering taxes.
They say it is inquisitorial. Do you know of any kind of taxes which are not inquisitorial? For instance, under the internal revenue system now in existence, the whiskey of the citizen is taken possession of by the government, placed in a warehouse, locked up, and a key given to a United States official. In the collection of our customs duties, packages and the baggage of the citizen are taken, opened and inspected, and, male or female though the citizens may be, they are sometimes taken into a room and searched. Nothing could be more inquisitorial than this.
All these arguments are put forth in the hope of leading us away from the great and fundamental principle of equity in taxation, and that is that every man should respond to the burdens of the government in accordance with his ability. It is nothing less than a crime to put all the burdens of this government on consumption.
I think those who advocate the income tax merely as a revenue producing proposition rob the proposition of its moral foundation. We should contend for an income tax not simply for the purpose of raising revenue but for the purpose of framing a revenue system which will distribute the burdens of government between consumption and accumulated wealth, which will enable us to call upon property and wealth not in an unfair and burdensome way but in a just and equitable way to meet their proportionate expenses of the government, for certainly it will be conceded by all that the great expense of government is in the protection of property and of wealth.
A tax placed upon consumption is based upon what men want and must have. A tax placed upon wealth falls upon those who have enough and to spare and therefore have more which it is necessary for the government to protect. "All the enjoyments which a man can receive from his property come from his connection with society. Cut off from all social relations, a man would find wealth useless to him. In fact, there could be no such thing as wealth without society. Wealth is what may be exchanged and requires for its existence a community of persons with reciprocal wants."
The general government, as we have said, has its armies and its navies and its great burden of expense for the purpose, among other things, of protecting property, protecting gathered and ac-
