first class, the tax in force in 1887 was from eight and a half per cent to ten per cent of net income." Under this class the following income was taxed: income derived from all those trades and occupations which are subject to a license tax; the income of mining and smelting establishments, and the profit made by the tenants of agricultural lands. In the second class, which includes income from services rendered or labor performed in occupations not subject to a license tax, the rate reported is exceptionally high. Under the third class, which embraces interests from loans, from invested capital, savings banks, and life-insurance companies, the rate is reported to be ten per cent. The exemptions under this latter head are very extensive, and include the pay of officers and soldiers in active service, interest on deposits in savings banks, and a great number of public securities—as five per cent Austrian stocks and bonds, certain bonds of the Tyrol bonds of all railroads subject to taxation, lottery loans of 1859 and 1860, and a large number of other corporation securities.
Servants are only taxed under the second class and in case their total income exceeds six hundred and thirty florins ($226.16).
In case a party subjected to an income tax makes either a false return or neglects to make any, thrice the amount of the tax is imposed, the payment of which, however, includes the tax itself, so that the fine proper is double the amount of the tax.
Denmark.—The income tax of Denmark was recently fixed at two per cent of the taxpayer's income. The tax is collected by authorized agents, who are obliged to give ample security for the faithful performance of their duties, for which they receive a remuneration of two per cent on the amount collected, together with an allowance for house rent in return for the obligations imposed upon them of having residences and offices in the taxing districts. This income tax does not seem to be objectionable in the sense of undue burdensomeness, the only complaints made being in regard to the publicity of the pecuniary conditions of the individuals taxed.
Switzerland.—A resort to an income tax for the purpose of defraying state expenditures seems to find especial favor in Switzer-
in the interest of free-trade principles from the vexatious and heavy duties on transfers, which, with legal expenses, make the cost of sales amount to ten per cent of the price paid. This heavy impost prevents sales, and its removal should be supplemented by establishing a simple system of transfer on the record-of-title principle. These reforms, which involve equality of taxation and free trade in land, are, in M. Guyot's opinion, essential to the well-being of France, whose greatest wealth consists in her land. Fifty per cent of the population are engaged in agriculture, and, without releasing them from their fair share of the public burdens, they should be placed in such circumstances as will permit land to pass into the possession of those who are most capable of working it to advantage. (Rapport sur les questions relatives à l'impôt sur le revenu. Par Yves Guyot. Paris: Guillaumin & Cie. 1887.)
