=Internal Revenue Taxes.=--The second important source of federal income is excise taxes, or what are popularly known as internal revenue duties, that is, taxes on commodities produced in the United States. _The Receipts_ from internal revenue taxes as compared with those from customs duties were inconsiderable before the Civil War. In 1862, however, Congress passed a comprehensive internal revenue law which increased the tax on liquors and levied a tax on tobacco, besides license taxes on various trades and occupations. So many articles were taxed that the revenue from this source in 1866 amounted to more than $309,000,000, the largest sum collected in one year from internal revenue taxes until 1915. In 1917, in consequence of the war, the rates of many taxes were increased and new taxes were levied on freight and passenger transportation, express charges, telegrams, insurance policies, theater tickets, automobiles and many other articles, and a great variety of business transactions, such as stock transfers, bond issues, etc. For some purposes the taxes on incomes, profits, and inheritances (page 224) are called internal revenue. The following are the principal items of internal revenue in the year ending June 30, 1921: Income and profits tax $3,228,137,673 Distilled spirits 82,623,428 Tobacco 255,219,385 Estate inheritance tax 154,043,260 Tax on sales 282,222,065 Tax on tickets of admission 95,890,650 Tax on corporations 81,525,652 Tax on bonds, stock issues and transfers, etc. 72,468,013 Tax on transportation, telegraph and telephone 301,512,413 =Collection of Internal Revenue Taxes.=--For convenience in collecting internal revenue taxes, the country is divided into some sixty districts, not by act of Congress as is the case with customs districts, but by the order of the President. Sometimes several states are grouped into one district; sometimes a state is divided into several districts. Thus there are four districts in Illinois, six in New York, and five in Kentucky. In each district there is a collector who acts under the supervision of the United States Internal Revenue Commissioner. The collection of internal revenue taxes is a much more simple task than the collection of customs duties, and is done for the most part by the sale of stamps to the manufacturer, who is required to affix them on the articles taxed. In assessing the tax on most articles their value is not taken into consideration, and hence there is less opportunity for arbitrary action on the part of the government officials and of course less likelihood of controversy, than is the case with the administration of the customs laws.