Constitutional history -- United States -- Sources; Constitutional law -- United States
The preceding train of observation will justify the position which has
been elsewhere laid down, that "A CONCURRENT JURISDICTION in the
article of taxation was the only admissible substitute for an entire
subordination, in respect to this branch of power, of State authority to
that of the Union." Any separation of the objects of revenue that could
have been fallen upon, would have amounted to a sacrifice of the great
INTERESTS of the Union to the POWER of the individual States. The
convention thought the concurrent jurisdiction preferable to that
subordination; and it is evident that it has at least the merit of
reconciling an indefinite constitutional power of taxation in the
Federal government with an adequate and independent power in the States
to provide for their own necessities. There remain a few other lights,
in which this important subject of taxation will claim a further
consideration.
PUBLIUS
FEDERALIST No. 35
The Same Subject Continued (Concerning the General Power of Taxation)
For the Independent Journal. Saturday, January 5, 1788
HAMILTON
To the People of the State of New York:
BEFORE we proceed to examine any other objections to an indefinite power
of taxation in the Union, I shall make one general remark; which is,
that if the jurisdiction of the national government, in the article of
revenue, should be restricted to particular objects, it would naturally
occasion an undue proportion of the public burdens to fall upon those
objects. Two evils would spring from this source: the oppression of
particular branches of industry; and an unequal distribution of the
taxes, as well among the several States as among the citizens of the
same State.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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