of thirty-three and one-third per cent, while the rich man pays only ten per cent on the valuation. Advalorem duties lay the tax more equally, but involve more difficulty in collection, since the value as well as the quantity of the goods must be ascertained. This opens the way to fraud by means of false invoices hence the government is compelled to employ a host of appraisers, who come into altercations with importers, and sometimes take bribes, and sometimes refuse to recognize an invoice that is honest and true.

For revenue purposes, the best tariff is one that lays a specific duty of moderate amount on a comparatively short list of articles which are not pro

duced at home. In many countries, the heaviest duties are laid on commodities, such as intoxicating liquors, the consumption of which is regarded as injurious. As a check on immorality, the measure is of little avail, for experience shows that the consumption of such articles is not materially diminished by the tax; but, as a source of revenue, it is found to yield large results.

National and State Taxation. The Constitution of the United States authorizes Congress to impose taxes in every form, subject to the qualifications that direct taxes must be apportioned to the several States according to their respective populations, and that all duties, imposts, and excises must be uniform throughout the United States. It expressly forbids any State to lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except for executing

its inspection laws. Hitherto, the National govern. ment has been sustained for the most part by indi rect taxes, in the form of duties on imports, while the State governments depend on direct taxes. To provide for the expenses of the recent war of the Rebellion, however, the general government adopted four other forms of taxation, which deserve a brief notice:

a. Excises. Congress laid taxes on certain articles of domestic manufacture, to be collected by the sale of stamps, which must be affixed by the manufacturer, or by an officer of the government, to the goods, before they were thrown on the market. This is an indirect tax, which involves great expense in collection, since the government must keep agents in every part of the country to guard against evasion of the tax. From a large list of articles thus taxed at first, only liquors and tobacco are now taxed in this way.

b. Stamps. This, too, is an indirect tax, levied by requiring stamps to be attached to various instruments and forms of business in order to give them legal force. By this means the postal service is almost wholly provided for at a very slight charge to the people. It was also applied to bankchecks, deeds, notes, wills, &c. It is an economical and equitable mode of distributing the public burdens, for it touches directly the wealth of the country in transition, and at points where it needs government protection to insure security. Great Britain raises over fifty millions of revenue each year from the sale of stamps.

c. Licenses. This is a tax imposed by requiring men to buy, at specified rates, government certificates authorizing them to engage in certain kinds of business. It is objected to such taxation, that it discriminates unequally among industrial occupations. In its favor, it is urged that it draws from parties such as peddlers, insurance-companies outside the State, and some professional men who could not otherwise be reached, a just return for the protection of the government which they enjoy.

d. Income tax. This is a form of direct tax levied by imposing a certain percentage on the annual incomes of individual citizens. Theoretically, this is the most equitable of all taxes, since it touches men exactly according to their abilities. If, however, the percentage is uniform for all incomes, it must bear heavily on those whose incomes are small. To relieve this, two measures are adopted. The first is to exempt all incomes below a certain amount; the other is to establish two or three grades, and make the percentage greatest on the larger incomes. The chief objections to an income tax are the difficulty of ascertaining men's real incomes, and the labor and cost of collecting it. The British government has nevertheless, employed this method of taxation for forty-five years so successfully, that nearly one-sixth of the annual revenue of the kingdom is derived from this source. The United States collected an income tax for ten years, from 1863 to 1872. In 1866 the amount thus col lected was about sixty-one millions. Actual expe rience under the law tended to relieve difficultie and objections.

Under State authority, all taxes are direct, laid on persons by poll-taxes, on property by assessment, and on certain kinds of business by licenses. The poll-tax is ordinarily a small amount levied on every male citizen who has attained his majority. It recognizes the protection which the government extends to persons, and is often made in theory a condition of the electoral franchise.

Taxes on property are imposed in all the States by essentially the same method. Assessors are elected in every town and city, who estimate the value of all property subject to taxation. Real estate is commonly set down at from twenty-five to thirty per cent less than its market value. Personal property is sometimes returned in prepared lists by the owners, and sometimes estimated by the assessor. In the first case, the owners may be required to make oath to the completeness and truthfulness of their returns; in the other, if the owner thinks the assessor's estimate too high, he may swear it down" to what he believes to be the true amount. The original assessments are in most of the States referred to boards of equalization appointed for each county; and their judgment is subsequently reviewed by a general board for the State. Upon the basis of the valuation of property so determined, the taxes for State purposes are apportioned to each county, city. and town. Each county, city, town, and school-district is authorized to levy taxes for its local purposes. These also are apportioned on the basis of the State valuation, except in case of certain city improvements, such

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as opening, paving, and lighting streets, which are charged upon the adjoining property. Sound economy dictates that all these taxes be collected in each town or city-ward at one time by one collector, furnished with a tax-list covering all.

If other means fail to secure the taxes, goods may be seized, and lands may be sold, to make up the amount required, the title thus given being made complete after a certain period allowed the original owner for redemption.

Equitable taxation requires property of every kind to be assessed. In actual experience, however, property in the form of real estate bears the larger share of the burden. Personal property can be easily concealed or removed by those who wish to evade their share of the taxes; and, with men of weak consciences, the temptation is strong to make false returns, and even to commit perjury, when detection is almost impossible.

Property in railways, banks, &c., is usually taxed as a whole by the State within whose jurisdiction it lies. If each individual stockholder is also taxed for his share, there is evidently a double taxation on that property.

The same thing happens often when one is re quired to pay a tax on the evidences of debt which he may hold, such as notes, bonds, mortgages, &c. These things are only symbols, whose multiplication makes no increase of real wealth. Suppose A B holds his neighbor's note for two thousand dollars, secured by mortgage on a farm worth four thousand. The property is one, the farm. The note and mort