on the carrier, was an indirect and not a direct tax. Another point is, that a tax on carriages has not the compulsory element which pertains to all direct taxes, as their ownership and use are optional, which is the special characteristic of all indirect taxes.
Substantially the same question involved in the carriage case came up again (in 1874) before the same court (Springer vs. United States, 12 Otto, 102 U. S. Reports, p. 856), when a citizen of Illinois resisted the payment of a national income tax on the ground that such a tax was a direct tax; and not being levied in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, was not legal and valid. From an economic point of view such a tax, as has been before shown, is and always has been regarded as a direct tax; and on the hearing the plaintiff adduced in support of his position the testimony, as found in their writings, of almost every acknowledged authority on political economy or finance in the English language—Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill, Wayland, Brande, Say, Perry, as well as the Encyclopædia Britannica and almost every other cyclopædia or dictionary of English or American origin.[1] The court, however, held as before, that under the definition of a direct tax, as expressed in the Constitution, the in-
- ↑ In all the debates in the British Parliament it is doubtful if any British statesman can be named who has ever spoken of an income tax as other than a direct tax. The same may be also affirmed of French authors and statesmen. The following citations of the opinions of various recognized authorities are illustrative:
"The taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon every species of revenue are capitation taxes."(Adam Smith.)
James Mill, under the title of "Direct taxes, which are designed to fall upon all sources of income,"says, "Assessed taxes, poll taxes, and income taxes are of this description." (Elements of Political Economy, p. 267.)
J. R. McCulIoch divides his work on taxation into two parts; Part I, on direct taxes, and Part II, on indirect taxes, and under the head of "Direct Taxes" he treats of "taxes on property and income."
Dr. Lieber, referring to the different modes of levying taxes, says: "The first way is direct—to determine from the statement of the parties concerned, or from official information, the net income of persons. This kind of taxes are called direct." (Encyclopædia Americana)
"Taxes are either direct or indirect. A direct tax is one which is demanded from the very persons who it is intended or desired should pay it. Direct taxes are either on income or expenditure. . . . Most taxes on expenditure are direct, being imposed not on the producer or seller of an article, but immediately on the consumer. . . . The window tax is a direct tax on expenditure, so are taxes on horses and carriages." (John Stuart Mill, Political Economy, vol. ii.)
When Sir Robert Peel brought forward his plan for an income tax in 1842, he said: "Indirect taxation has reached its limits, and can no longer be relied on. My plan is this, to levy an income tax," etc. (Parliamentary Debates, Ivi, 428; Ann. Reg., 1842, 72, 73.) And Lord John Russell said in reply: "To resort to the desperate measure of an income tax in such circumstances is nothing less than to proclaim to the world that your resources are exhausted, that indirect taxation has reached its limits," etc. (Parliamentary Debates, Ivii, 86, 147; Ann. Reg , 1842, 77, 79.)
