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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) CHAPTER III.: Taxation Measured in Money. - Taxation and Work: A Series of Treatises on the Tariff and the Currency
CHAPTER III.: Taxation Measured in Money. - Edward Atkinson, Taxation and Work: A Series of Treatises on the Tariff and the Currency [1892]Edition used:Taxation and Work: A Series of Treatises on the Tariff and the Currency (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892).
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CHAPTER III.
Taxation Measured in Money.
We may now deal with the public expenditures in the customary way in which a custodian of other people’s money should render his account. In the vernacular a good many people desire to ask Uncle Sam what he has done with the product of their work. Uncle Sam replies in the following terms:
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, In account with THE TAX PAYERS.
EXPENDITURES.| The total expenditure of the government in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, including the postal service, amounted to | $421,304,470 46 | | Recovered from postal service in compensation for carrying mails | 65,931,785 72 | | Remainder | | | $355,372,684 74 | | Customs revenue returned in Rebates, Drawbacks, etc | 11,937,408 79 | | Net expenditure | | | $343,435,275 95 | | Amount of extraordinary expenditures in the specific year ending June 30, 1891, which will not recur again: | | | Refund to States of Direct Taxes levied during the war | | $11,521,496 92 | | | Cost of Eleventh Census | | 5,942,977 13 | | | | | $17,464,474 05 | | Remainder representing the true cost of government for fiscal year ending June 30th, 1891 | $325,970,801 90 | | Expenditures in that year which will recur and for which provision must be made from year to year, but which are not a part of the normal or true cost of government: | | | Pensions a little less than one-third for first payments which once paid are final | 124,415,951 40 | | The true pension roll or payments which are recurrent until death amounted to less than $80,000,000. It is probable that all claims under existing acts will have been audited before June 30, 1894, when all first payments will have been liquidated. The annual pension change will then fall off one-third or more. | | | True cost of government | | $201,554,850 50 | | Expenses of a variable but continuous character, to be repeated year by year at the will of each Congress, according to the ability of the country to bear taxation: | | | On Public Buildings | | $4,811,822 16 | | | On Rivers | | 8,760,464 71 | | | On Harbors | | 3,490,162 52 | | | On Naval Vessels | | 10,609,197 15 | | | | $27,671,646 54 | | | Disbursements which will be ultimately recovered: | | | | Interest advanced on bonds issued to Pacific R. R., to be repaid by them and now recovered in part, year by year, and accounted for in the miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury, | | | | $5,408,871 12 | | | | Sinking Fund Union Pacific R. R. | | | | $1,837,098 45 | | | | Sinking Fund Central Pacific R. R. | | | | $481,191 25 | | | | | $7,727,160 82 | | | Continuous expenditures on the whole lessening year by year: | | | | Interest on public debt | | $32,138,264 25 | | | Indians, support of | | 8,527,469 01 | | | Soldiers’ Homes, support of | | 3,599,199 81 | | | | | $79,663,740 43 | | Normal or true cost of government which is not subject to any great variation and which is diminishing in ratio to population | 121,891,110 07 | | Legislative Department | | $7,471,598 44 | | | Executive Department | | 174,897 20 | | | State Department | | 2,170,047 47 | | | Treasury Department | | 29,216,319 86 | | | Interior Department | | 15,271,705 34 | | | Agricultural Department | | 1,797,147 16 | | | Department of Labor | | 143,682 50 | | | Department of Justice | | 810,112 74 | | | Judiciary | | 5,808,080 77 | | | Postal Deficiency | | 6,958,528 14 | | | Army | | 36,201,599 93 | | | Navy | | 15,867,390 52 | | | | | $121,891,110 07 | It will be observed that the true cost of the government was $121,891,110.07, and that the expenditures of a constructive order which will be constant for many years, varying and lessening in amount at the will of each Congress, were $79,663,740.43. These two sums taken together give all the expenditures which are of a recurrent description and which may be called normal, to which pensions are to be added: | Normal | $201,554,850 50 | | Pensions | 124,415,951 40 | | Total | $325,970,801 90 |
Upon this analysis of the true expenditures of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1891, future expenditures may be predicated.
Having credited the government with these expenditures, we may now take up the debit side of the account.
Taxation and work are two names for the same thing. How much money’s worth is to be charged to the government and what were the sources or subjects of taxation from which its revenue is derived are given below.
The subjects of taxation and the revenue from each class are concisely given in the Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department upon imports entered for consumption
RECEIPTS AND THEIR SOURCES.
CUSTOMS REVENUE.| Of this amount $1,102,645 was duty equivalent to internal revenue tax. | | Of this amount $974,360 was duty equivalent to internal revenue tax. | | SOURCES. | 1890. | 1891. | | Duties on Merchandise— | | | | Class A—Articles of food and live animals. | | | | Animals | $651,126 00 | $589,002 00 | | Breadstuffs | 1,148,611 00 | 894,648 00 | | Fish | 674,642 00 | 893,967 00 | | Fruits, including nuts | 3,915,470 00 | 4,343,622 00 | | Provisions, including meat and dairy products | 494,268 00 | 636,215 00 | | Rice | 1,632,078 00 | 2,006,258 00 | | Salt | 394,215 00 | 408,790 00 | | Sugar and molasses | 55,150,819 00 | 32,468,339 00 | | Vegetables | 1,008,739 00 | 2,523,030 00 | | All other | 748,286 00 | 782,503 00 | | Total Class A | $65,818,254 00 | $45,546,374 00 | | Class B—Articles in a crude condition which enter into the various processes of domestic industry. | | Coal and coke | $712,630 00 | $804,845 00 | | Flax, hemp, and other vegetable fibre | 2,419,797 00 | 697,224 00 | | Hops | 515,758 00 | 543,110 00 | | Iron and Steel— | | | | Ores | 868,776 00 | 721,383 00 | | Pig-iron | 995,032 00 | 550,902 00 | | Scrap iron | 254,017 00 | 370,754 00 | | Steel ingots, cogged ingots, etc. | 546,466 00 | 653,040 00 | | Lead ore, pigs and bars | 50,701 00 | 822,901 00 | | Marble in block, rough or squared | 251,501 00 | 250,369 00 | | Seeds—Castor, linseed, poppy, and garden | 619,802 00 | 520,027 00 | | Wood—Pulp | 177,339 00 | 216,893 00 | | Wools, raw and mungo, flocks, etc. | 5,959,412 00 | 6,758,795 00 | | All other | 689,449 00 | 735,141 00 | | Total Class B | $14,060,680 00 | $13,645,384 00 | | Class C—Articles wholly or partially manufactured, for use as materials in the manufactures and mechanic arts. | | Cement | $435,631 00 | $830,311 00 | | Chemicals, drugs, etc. | 4,653,683 00 | 4,431,446 00 | | Cotton thread, yarn or warp yarn, not on spools | 409,346 00 | 425,575 00 | | Flax or hemp yarn or thread | 342,826 00 | 363,982 00 | | Furs, dressed on the skin, and hatters’ furs | 1,071,072 00 | 1,312,001 00 | | Iron and Steel— | | | | Tin-plates | 6,746,645 00 | 10,577,115 00 | | All other | 2,203,933 00 | 1,830,640 00 | | Leather | 957,575 00 | 985,089 00 | | Paints and colors | 429,869 00 | 439,717 00 | | Silk, partially manufactured from cocoons, etc., spun silk, etc. | 265,949 00 | 627,804 00 | | Wood, manufactures of | 1,203,490 00 | 1,149,132 00 | | Woollen and worsted yarns | 1,270,087 00 | 1,141,557 00 | | All other | 1,251,616 00 | 1,025,114 00 | | Total Class C | $21,241,722 00 | $25,139,483 00 | | Class D—Manufactured articles, ready for consumption. | | | Books and other printed matter | $713,859 00 | $621,606 00 | | Brushes of all kinds, etc. | 225,219 00 | 313,372 00 | | Buttons | 665,146 00 | 525,949 00 | | Carriages, and parts of | 158,509 00 | 209,291 00 | | Clocks and watches, and parts of | 547,909 00 | 604,626 00 | | Cotton, manufactures of | 6,783,438 00 | 8,721,944 00 | | Earthen, stone, and chinaware | 4,005,745 00 | 4,660,477 00 | | Flax, hemp, etc., manufactures of | 8,685,735 00 | 7,935,059 00 | | Glass and glassware | 4,215,839 00 | 4,532,220 00 | | Iron and Steel— | | | | Cutlery | 1,139,766 00 | 861,076 00 | | Machinery | 1,232,267 00 | 1,255,661 00 | | All other | 1,397,270 00 | 1,439,600 00 | | Leather—Gloves and other manufactures of | 2,838,628 00 | 3,159,924 00 | | Metals, not elsewhere specified, compositions and manufactures of | 1,152,949 00 | 2,390,394 00 | | Paper, and manufactures of | 542,393 00 | 871,519 00 | | Straw, manufactures of | 22,775 00 | 247,192 00 | | Wood, manufactures of | 640,646 00 | 822,102 00 | | Wool, manufactures of— | | | | Carpets and carpeting | 790,754 00 | 829,064 00 | | Cloths | 11,702,134 00 | 10,537,969 00 | | Dress goods | 16,490,948 00 | 16,616,302 00 | | Flannels | 854,813 00 | 295,293 00 | | Wearing apparel— | | | | Clothing, ready-made, cloaks, dolmans, etc. | 1,010,134 00 | 1,524,947 00 | | Hats | 5,236 00 | 12,511 00 | | Knit fabrics | 1,242,656 00 | 779,099 00 | | Shawls | 628,043 00 | 509,162 00 | | Webbings, gorings, etc. | 359,038 00 | 300,577 00 | | All other wearing apparel | 2,587,681 00 | 2,104,807 00 | | All other | 2,197,673 00 | 1,655,327 00 | | Total class D | $72,837,203 00 | $74,397,070 00 | | Class E—Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc.— | | | Art works—Painting and statuary | $445,934 00 | $287,807 00 | | Cotton laces, edgings, and embroideries, | 4,498,785 00 | 5,799,291 00 | | Fancy articles— | | | | Dolls and toys | 727,168 00 | 776,781 00 | | Feathers and downs | 465,226 00 | 447,581 00 | | Feathers and flowers, artificial | 589,638 00 | 670,736 00 | | Perfumery, cosmetics, and toilet articles | 283,579 00 | 300,618 00 | | Pipes and smokers’ articles | 173,484 00 | 233,373 00 | | All other | 844,679 00 | 378,914 00 | | Firecrackers | 273,001 00 | 439,520 00 | | Flax and Hemp— | | | | Laces, edgings, embroideries, etc. | 434,201 00 | 1,078,195 00 | | Jewelry and precious stones | 1,466,131 00 | 1,505,803 00 | | Liquors— | | | | Malt liquors and extract | 726,683 00 | 835,922 00 | | Spirits, distilled | 3,129,424 00 | 3,437,571 00 | | Wines | 4,662,004 00 | 5,147,765 00 | | Musical instruments | 432,882 00 | 475,203 00 | | Silk, manufactures of— | | | | Dress and piece goods | 5,370,098 00 | 5,225,348 00 | | Handkerchiefs | 105,138 00 | 323,470 00 | | Laces, embroideries, etc. | 1,907,596 00 | 1,797,205 00 | | Ribbons | 1,026,593 00 | 896,765 00 | | Velvets, plushes, etc. | 2,535,244 00 | 2,843,264 00 | | Wearing apparel | 626,545 00 | 1,429,481 00 | | Webbing, goring, suspenders, etc. | 180,901 00 | 360,759 00 | | All other | 6,927,690 00 | 5,857,068 00 | | Tobacco and manufactures of | 13,317,368 00 | 16,172,277 00 | | All other | 209,255 00 | 341,658 00 | | Total class E | $51,359,217 00 | $57,062,375 00 | | Total duty collected— | | | | Regular | $225,317,076 00 | $215,790,686 00 | | Additional and discriminating | 1,222,961 00 | 1,095,015 00 | | Total dues collected on merchandise | $226,540,037 00 | $216,885,701 00 | | Tonnage tax | 565,860 10 | 520,333 46 | | Miscellaneous | 2,562,687 47 | 2,116,170 77 | | Total customs revenue | $229,668,584 57 | $219,522,205 23 | INTERNAL REVENUE.| Tax collected on— | | | | Spirits | $76,539,002 62 | $79,626,093 51 | | Tobacco | 32,443,509 92 | 32,573,735 74 | | Fermented liquors | 25,494,798 50 | 28,192,327 69 | | Oleomargarine | 619,205 72 | 871,488 44 | | Special taxes on manufacturers, dealers, etc., and miscellaneous | 7,510,189 05 | 4,422,604 06 | | Total internal revenue | $142,606,705 81 | $145,686,249 44 | POSTAL SERVICE.| Revenue from | $60,882,097 92 | $65,931,785 72 | MISCELLANEOUS.| SOURCES. | 1890. | 1891. | | Profits on coinage, bullion, deposits, and assays | $10,217,244 25 | $7,701,991 82 | | Sales of public lands | 6,358,272 51 | 4,029,535 41 | | Fees—Consular, letters-patent, and land, | 3,146,692 32 | 3,019,781 84 | | The District of Columbia | 2,809,130 93 | 2,853,897 74 | | Sinking Fund for Pacific Railways | 1,842,564 52 | 2,326,359 37 | | Tax on national banks | 1,301,326 58 | 1,236,042 60 | | Customs fees, fines, penalties, and forfeitures | 1,299,324 52 | 966,121 82 | | Repayment of interest by Pacific railways, | 705,691 52 | 823,904 04 | | Sales of Indian lands | 372,288 15 | 602,545 38 | | Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company | | 500,000 00 | | Soldiers’ Home, permanent fund | 308,886 99 | 308,648 34 | | Immigrant fund | 241,464 00 | 292,271 00 | | Tax on seal skins | 262,500 00 | 269,673 88 | | Sales of government property | 192,123 99 | 259,379 05 | | Deposits for surveying public lands | 112,314 79 | 131,422 80 | | Sales of ordnance material | | 122,668 01 | | Sales of condemned naval vessels | | 78,037 36 | | Depredations on public lands | 35,852 37 | 55,905 83 | | Other miscellaneous sources | 1,600,014 81 | 1,825,806 35 | | Total miscellaneous | $30,805,692 25 | $27,403,992 64 | | Total receipts | 463,963,080 55 | 458,544,233 03 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