The impending crisis : $b conditions resulting from the concentration of wealth in the United StatesBouroff, Basil A.
History
The impending crisis : $b conditions resulting from the concentration of wealth in the United States
Bouroff, Basil A.
Trusts, Industrial; United States -- Economic conditions; Wealth
The fact that the total revenue, including customs, etc., received by
the government in the seven years amounted to $2,319,179,059,[168]
indicates, that while the population has increased, the indirect taxes
seem to have decreased by $340,820,941 below [SN: THE TAXATION MOST
UNJUST TO THE POOR.] the amount which would be required by the rates
paid in 1890. This diminution would average about $48,688,705 in each
successive year, and may be due to the passage of the Wilson Bill.
Although Dr. Spahr says that this bill has not materially changed the
situation, because the poorer classes, as we see, have paid $639,179,057
more for the support of the government than did the well-to-do and the
wealthy classes together. He therefore adds that “our system of national
taxation remains in proportion to its weight the most unjust to poorer
classes of any now tolerated in any popularly governed country.”[169] Of
course, “the situation was the most unjust,” when the families worth
$5,000 and under were smaller in numbers and when they owned over
$9,000,000,000 worth of collective wealth. But the injustice now
surpasses all degrees of comparison, because these families increased by
about 1,565,158, even without counting the families worth $5,000 and
over whose wealth must have been reduced below the worth of $5,000.
As to the distribution of local taxes in the year 1890, these were paid
as follows:
TABLE OF LOCAL TAXES PAID.
Families with incomes of $5,000 and over $220,000,000
Families with incomes of $5,000 to $1,200 170,000,000
Families with incomes of under $1,200 125,000,000[170]
From this table it is clear that the local taxation is not so unjustly
imposed upon the poorer families as the indirect taxation [SN: LOCAL
TAXATION IS LESS UNJUST.] is.[171] Yet judging from the facts that the
above table represents gross incomes, and that the poorer classes lose
all the wealth they produce in favor of monopolies and combinations, the
injustice against these classes cannot again be regarded other than a
profound injustice. For, having been paid seven years—from 1891 to 1897
inclusive—these taxes amount to as follows:
Table of Local Taxes Paid.
------------------+--------------+--------------------+---------------
Classes | Number | Totals of Property | Taxes Paid in
of Families. | of Families. | in Dollars. | Dollars.
------------------+--------------+--------------------+---------------
Families worth | | |
$5,000 and over | 1,695,117 | $ 79,825,000,000 | 2,615,963,952
Families worth | | |
under $5,000 | 12,755,310 | 7,000,000,000 | 875,000,000
------------------+--------------+--------------------+---------------
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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