Duty (tax)

“ Taxable incomes, partaking of the nature of a salary, and upon which a tax would have the character of a duty on capital, were required by the provisions of this new act to pay only one half as much as those incomes which arose from, and would be therefore added to, wealth already acquired. ”

“ These, it is said, can be distributed among different classes of tax-payers, because the income tax falls on the owners of incomes of all kinds of property subject to the duty, if their incomes are above a certain limit, while the incidence of customs and excise duties can be ascertained by inquiries as to the consumption of dutiable articles by different classes. ”

“ Every element that could make real or personal property a source of value to an owner was taxed. An excise duty was also imposed upon income derived from any profession, trade, employment, or avocation. The tax upon persons generally was not upon their entire income, bat on the excess over and above the sum of four thousand dollars. All persons having incomes of four thousand dollars or under were exempt. ”

“ It provides expressly that the payment of the taxes imposed by it shall not exempt any person carrying on a trade or business from any penalty or punishment provided by State laws for carrying on such trade or business, or authorize the commencement or continuance of any such trade or business contrary to State laws, or pevent the imposition of any duty or any tax on such trade or business by State authority. ”

“ To sum up, for the further burden of our religious bodies to the common taxes are added the tax on inalienable property, the income tax of 4 per cent, and the so-called increment duties, which are not modified but accentuated by what is called the ‘droit d’abonnement’ or subscription duty. ”

“ It is argued that, in order fairly to proportion the tax to the ability of the contributors, such a graduated scale of duty should be adopted as should press lightly on the smaller class of properties and incomes, and increase according as they become larger and more able to bear taxation. ”

“ Ct. Rep. 313, it was said: 'By the terms 'tax,' 'impost,' 'duty,' mentioned in the ordinance, [the ordinance of 1787,] is meant a charge for the use of the government, not compensation for improvements. ”

“ It was for that reason that in each of those cases it was held that one vested with the right to receive income did not escape the tax by any kind of anticipatory arrangement, however skillfully devised, by which he procures payment of it to another, since, by the exercise of his power to command the income, he enjoys the benefit of the income on which the tax is laid. ”

“ That there shall be levied, assessed, collected and paid annually upon the entire net income arising or accruing from all sources in the preceding calendar year to every citizen of the United States, whether residing at home or abroad, and to every person residing in the United States, though not a citizen thereof, a tax of 1 per centum per annum upon such income, except as hereinafter provided. ”

“ No interest, whose acquisitions are the effect of law, and not of labour, can pay any portion of a tax. Publick officers, who receive salaries, pay no taxes, and therefore are not allowed to impose them. ”

“ We said that 'the statute could tax salaries to those who earned them and provide that the tax could not be escaped by anticipatory arrangements and contracts however skilfully devised to prevent the salary when paid from vesting even for a second in the man who earned it.' That was deemed to be the meaning of the statute as to compensation for personal service and the one who earned the income was held to be subject to the tax. ”

“ Wherever you find an article, a product, a trade, a profession, a sale, or a source of income, tax it! And so an edict went forth to this effect, and the people cheerfully submitted. Incomes under five thousand dollars were taxed five per cent, with an exemption of five hundred dollars and house rent actually paid. Incomes in excess of five thousand dollars and not in excess of ten thousand dollars were taxed two and a half per cent in addition, and incomes over ten thousand dollars, five per cent additional, without any allowance or exemptions whatever. ”

“ That in computing the net income of a corporation subject to the tax imposed by section 230 there shall be allowed as deductions:
' (1) All the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business, including a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services actually rendered. * * *'
The payments in the present instance were actually made in the year 1920. ”

“ Liability may rest upon the enjoyment by the taxpayer of privileges and benefits so substantial and important as to make it reasonable and just to deal with him as if he were the owner, and to tax him on that basis. ”

“ But, wholly apart from extrinsic circumstances, the statute itself in terms seems clearly to impose an income tax. The tax is not one upon the privilege of doing business, but it is an annual tax for the privilege of doing business, to be computed upon the basis of the net income for the year next preceding. ”

“ As compared with the company deriving its income only from taxable sources, the enterprise with the same total amount of investment income derived partly from exempt and partly from taxable sources would pay more tax per dollar of taxable gross income, i.e., taxable income before deduction for the reserve. ”

“ We have repeatedly held that in defining 'gross income' as broadly as it did in § 22 (a) Congress intended to 'tax all gains except those specifically exempted.' See, e.g., Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. ”

“ Every corporation, association, joint-stock company and insurance company, 'created or organized in the United States,' shall pay a special excise tax, as prescribed, with respect to the carrying on or doing business. ”

“ He must first find the cash for a liability for which he may not have provided. * * * The first interest of all of the people is, of course, that the Government continue to function, and to do this it must have the means of prompt collection of the necessary supplies to keep it going, that is, taxes. The method was, therefore, the determination by the Commissioner of the amount of tax due, its collection and suit to recover. * * * (T) he tax as assessed had to be paid and the taxpayer was left to his remedy in the courts. ”

“ The rule, founded on administrative convenience, is only one of postponement of the tax to the final event of enjoyment of the income, usually the receipt of it by the taxpayer, and not one of exemption from taxation where the enjoyment is consummated by some event other than the taxpayer's personal receipt of money or property. ”

“ The provision is general, and applied alike to all taxpayers; its purpose is to guide the ascertainment of taxable income in each year. It is a familiar rule that tax laws are to be liberally construed in favor of taxpayers. ”

“ Though the corporations were by the law made agents of the government for collecting it and paying it over, the tax itself was ruled to be a part of the income tax of the persons entitled to the interest or dividends. ”

“ If, as claimed. they are able to procure better management, a tax upon gains will uniformly reflect the effects of such management. And the same principle holds true of every advantage said to adhere in the magnitude of a business.
As we have said, the statute does not purport to levy a tax on incomes. ”

“ There the people heard the list of fines levied in the courts; of tolls in the market, or taxes taken at the gates or in the harbour; of the “maltodes,” or sums paid on commodities for sale; of the “scot” levied on the property of individuals; of the “lyvelode” or livelihood, an income tax on rates or profits earned. They learned what means the corporation had taken of increasing the common revenue ”

“ If, with such high duties as to prohibit the articles, our chief source of revenue will be wiped off, and the consequence may, nay, must be, direct taxation. If low, it will only exhibit, without gratifying, a resentment, and the consumers of these articles, the yeomanry of this country, will have to pay the tax. ”

“ It gives an opportunity for getting an accurate account of the wealth, growth, trade and strength of the nation at all times. The tax should be collected by special officers, whose time will be taken up entirely in this employment. ”

“ But taxation is not so much concerned with the refinements of title as it is with actual command over the property taxed-the actual benefit for which the tax is paid. If a man directed his bank to pay over income as received to a servant or friend, until further orders, no one would doubt that he could be taxed upon the amounts so paid. ”

“ Section 280 (a) (1) provides the United States with a new remedy for enforcing the existing 'liability, at law or in equity.' The quoted words are employed in the statute to describe the kind of liability to which the new remedy is to be applied and to define the extent of such liability. The obligation to be enforced is the liability for the tax. ”

“ The source of revenue to Dens shall be the initiation fees, fines, and a per capita tax, whenever the Grand Cyclops shall deem such tax necessary and indispensable to the interests and objects of the Order.
Sec. 7. All the revenue obtained in the manner aforesaid, shall be for the exclusive benefit of the Order, and shall be appropriated to the dissemination of the same and to the creation of a fund to meet any disbursement that it may become necessary to make to accomplish the objects of the Order and to secure the protection of the same. ”

“ As was very justly observed by this court in a recent case, 'Every tax upon personal property, or upon occupations, business, or franchises, affects more or less the subjects, and the operations of commerce. ”

“ It is equally true and obvious. and of some importance to the correct interpretation of the statute, that any depreciation in excess of the reasonable allowance authorized can, under the statute, result in no tax advantage to the taxpayer and in no tax prejudice to the Government, unless the excess has in fact been deducted from the taxpayer's gross income. ”

“ The administrators of a citizen being taxed by the proper tax authorities of the State for a large amount of personal property, put in a schedule of personal assets consisting mainly of certificates of stock in various railroad and mining companies, with a plea for abatement. ”

“ All State taxation which does not impair the agent's efficiency in the discharge of his duties to the government has been sustained when challenged, and a tax upon his property generally has not been regarded as beyond the power of a State to impose. ”

“ The annual tax is, for domestic corporations, a specified percentage of the net income of the corporation for the next preceding fiscal or calendar year. By section 7 of the statute, 'net income' is defined as 'gross income' less certain allowed deductions, and section 6 provides that 'gross income * * * includes * * * all interest received from federal, state, municipal or other bonds. ”

“ By the power to lay and collect taxes, they may proceed to direct taxation on every individual, either by a capitation tax on their heads, or an assessment on their property. By this part of the section therefore, the government has power to lay what duties they please on goods imported ”

“ The exigencies of a tax determined on an annual basis may lead to the inclusion as income of items which might be shown to involve no gain if the transactions were viewed as a whole over several years. ”

“ Suppose the just share of the taxes of a rich consumer to be 100l., and that he would pay it directly, if the tax were laid on income, on wine, or on any other luxury, he would suffer no injury if by the taxation of necessaries, he should319 be only called upon for the payment of 25l., as far as his own consumption of necessaries, and that of his family was concerned, but should be required to repeat this tax three times, by paying an additional price for other commodities to remunerate the labourers, or their employers, for the tax which they have been called upon to advance. ”

“ Congress has passed no tax statutes which compel me to conclude that it intended to reward ingenuity in paper work by granting multiple tax deductions for a single money payment to discharge a single corporate obligation. ”

“ It has been the practice to define income of individuals, and, in separate sections, under the heading 'Estates and Trusts', to provide that the tax imposed upon individuals shall apply to the income of estates or of any kind of property held in trust. ”

“ In that case, the company was obligated, in consideration of the tax limitation stated in the act, to commence and do certain work within a year; in consideration whereof the tax was fixed at the rate of 1/2 of 1 per cent. ”