Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 18 (of 20) — John Shaqi
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 18 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 18 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
This is the voice of Science. It is not the voice of a political
partisan, or of the representative of any Administration anxious to
establish a system of taxation, but it is the voice of Science itself,
speaking by one of its--I may say chosen authorities. How can this
testimony be answered? If you come back to an authority of a different
character, take a statesman. The Senator from California [Mr. CASSERLY]
has referred to Sir Robert Peel, who is known as the modern author
of the income tax; but he has left his testimony behind. I quote
words from different speeches, showing how he has characterized it.
He admitted that it was “a tax which had hitherto been reserved for
time of war”; and that “the question of its imposition was, whether
the political necessity was of such magnitude and urgency as to
justify it”; and then that it “ought to be accompanied by measures
of simultaneous relief.” Then, “he did not deny that it was an
inquisitorial tax”; and again, that “a certain degree of inquisitorial
scrutiny was inseparable from an income tax”; and further, that “a good
deal of inconvenience inevitably arose from the inquiries that must be
instituted into the properties of men, in the imposition of an income
tax”; moreover, that “one great objection to the income tax was, that
it fell with peculiar severity upon those who were determined to act
honestly.”[20]
In harmony with his testimony is that also of Mr. Gladstone, named by
the two Senators who have preceded me. The Senator from Ohio reminds
us that Mr. Gladstone has sustained an income tax. Have we not all
sustained an income tax?
Mr. SHERMAN. He does it this very year.
MR. SUMNER. This very year, and why? The Senator knows perfectly how
England is pressed by taxation,--how difficult it is to find objects
for taxation in order to meet the great demands upon her exchequer.
He knows that England is obliged now, in time of peace, to meet the
responsibilities of war. It is on account of that terrible war debt
which still hangs over her, the interest of which must be annually
paid, that she is obliged to assume even in a period of peace this
responsibility. I think we are in no such condition. Our war is happily
over, and I know no reason why the responsibilities and obligations
assumed during that period should be prolonged now during the reign of
peace. Sir, let us put an end to the war. And I know no better way to
give our testimony to the end of the war than by stopping that taxation
which was born of the war.
MORE WORK TO BE DONE.
LETTER TO THE AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY AT ITS FINAL MEETING, APRIL
8, 1870.
SENATE CHAMBER, April 8, 1870.
GENTLEMEN,--You propose to celebrate the triumph of Equal Rights
at the ballot-box, and at the same time to abandon that famous
shibboleth by which you once rallied the country against Slavery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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