Noah Haynes Swayne

“ If the reduction of all incomes to a legal tender standard was intended for no other purpose than to establish a uniform system in keeping the accounts of the internal revenue department, it is difficult to understand, first, why, in case of refusal to declare in which currency the income return is made, the assessor should be entitled to disregard the return, and exact, over and above the regular income tax, a penalty of twenty-five per cent. ”

“ United States, to the effect that a capitation tax and a tax on land are the principal, if not the only, direct taxes within the meaning of the Constitution, that the general acquiescence in the unapportioned income tax is, in a great degree, attributable. ”

“ These discourses shine in the light shed back upon them by the great intellect which for so many years illuminated the decisions of this tribunal the illustrious Marshall-with whose grandeur of fame we naturally associate ideas of the Supreme Court. ”

“ Where the power of taxation, exercised by Congress, is warranted by the Constitution, as to mode and subject, it is, necessarily, unlimited in its nature. Congress may prescribe the basis, fix the rates, and require payment as it may deem proper. Within the limits of the Constitution it is supreme in its action. No power of supervision or control is lodged in either of the other departments of the government.
To this question it must be answered, that the statute did deny to the plaintiff the right to have the assessment made otherwise than as it was made by the assessor ”

“ If a tax upon carriages, kept for his own use by the owner, is not a direct tax, we can see no ground upon which a tax upon the business of an insurance company can be held to belong to that class of revenue charges. ”

“ The list, with all the amounts therein stated, according to their values in legal tender currency, is to be placed by the assessor in the hands of the collector.
4. The collector is charged with the aggregate amount, and credited with his collections and otherwise, as is provided by the statute.
5. The taxes are made a lien, and, in default of payment, property is to be seized and sold by the collector. Both personal and real estate are liable. ”