Rate (tax)

“ The tax rate is always determined by the amount of money needed to meet the obligations of the State, predicated upon the assessed value of taxable property. Changes in the tax rate, therefore, are liable to be of frequent occurrence. The material point at issue is the volume of money paid into the treasury and the disposition made of it. ”

“ Income and profits are grouped in four categories, each of which is subject to a separate tax—Property Tax, Salaries Tax, Profits Tax and Interest Tax. A fifth and aggregate tax known as Personal Assessment is chargeable on people who so elect. In that case the individual's income, otherwise chargeable to the four separate taxes, is aggregated in a single sum which is reduced by personal allowances and tax, charged on a sliding scales, granting reduced rate reliefs. ”

“ The tax imposed upon the first $400,000 of annual gross sales is one-twentieth of 1 per cent. The rate increases on each additional $100,000 of sales between $400,000 and $1,000,000, inclusive, being seventeen-twentieths of 1 per cent. ”

“ One per cent. on this prodigious amount represents a tax of one hundred and ten millions, paid annually by consumers, according to their consumption, and not in any degree according to their ability. This is one instance only of the damages annually paid on account of our currency. If we estimate the annual tax at more than one per cent., the sum-total will be proportionally larger. Even at the smallest rate, it is many millions more than all the annual expenses of our Government immediately preceding the Rebellion. ”

“ The amount of a person's tax depends upon the value of his property and the rate of tax. How is the former fact ascertained? To whom, then, does the assessor report when he has concluded his labors?
The rate of tax depends upon the amount to be raised and the value of the property on which it is to be assessed. Who determines how much money shall be raised in a district for school purposes during any year? When is this determined? Who records the proceedings of the meeting? ”

“ The lowest rate, he tells us, at which advances used to be obtained from capitalists, even upon the land-tax, which seems to have been considered the surest part of the national revenue, was eight per cent., although repayment was made within the year, and premiums were generally granted to the subscribers. On anticipations of other taxes, counting premiums, discount, and interest, the public had sometimes to pay twenty, thirty, and even forty per cent. ”

“ In a country where the market rate of interest seldom exceeds three per cent., a tax of two per cent. amounts to thirteen shillings and four pence in the pound, upon the highest neat revenue which is commonly drawn from stock. It is a tax which very few people could pay, without encroaching more or less upon their capitals. In a particular exigency, the people may, from great public zeal, make a great effort, and give up even a part of their capital, in order to relieve the state. ”

“ The income tax law levies on all citizens or residents of the United States a normal tax of 12 percent. upon the amount of income in excess of exemptions, except that on the first $4,000 of the taxable amount the rate shall be 6 percent. ”

“ In General.—Section 1 (relating to tax imposed) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: `` (i) Rate Reductions After 2000.— `` (1) 10-percent rate bracket.— `` (A) In general.—In the case of taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000— `` (i) the rate of tax under subsections (a) , (b) , (c) , and (d) on taxable income not over the initial bracket amount shall be 10 percent, and `` (ii) the 15 percent rate of tax shall apply only to taxable income over the initial bracket amount but not over the maximum dollar amount for the 15-percent rate bracket. ”

“ A change in a marginal tax rate is usually accompanied by a change in exemption, and both generally happen at the same time, either annually or in computer policy simulations. Private and national income change at the same time too. Individuals are frequently aware that their own fortunes are linked to the fortunes of the national economy and they will be sensitive to their relative position in the distribution of income. Work incentives may be more guided by the average tax rate rather than the statutory marginal tax rate. ”

“ Under this class the following income was taxed: income derived from all those trades and occupations which are subject to a license tax; the income of mining and smelting establishments, and the profit made by the tenants of agricultural lands. In the second class, which includes income from services rendered or labor performed in occupations not subject to a license tax, the rate reported is exceptionally high. Under the third class, which embraces interests from loans, from invested capital, savings banks, and life-insurance companies, the rate is reported to be ten per cent. ”

“ Individual income tax rates:
(1) For comprehensive income in excess of the specified amounts, progressive tax rates ranging from 3 percent to 45 percent shall apply (see schedule of tax rates attached) ;
(2) For income from business operation in excess of the specified amounts, progressive tax rates ranging from 5 percent to 35 percent shall apply (see schedule of tax rates attached) ; and
(3) For income from interest, dividends or bonuses, income from leasing of assets, income from transfer of assets, and incidental income, a flat tax rate of 20 percent shall apply. ”

“ The rate of exaction imposed by the excess profits tax grows, in stages, with the increase in the percentage earned on the capital. In the first stage-net income up to 15 per cent. on capital-the rate of exaction is four-twentieths. In the second stage-net income from 15 to 20 per cent.-the rate is five-twentieths. In the third stage-net income from 20 to 25 per cent.-the rate is seven-twentieths. In the fourth stage-net income from 25 to 33 per cent.-the rate is nine-twentieths. ”

“ In fact, when tax parameters are indexed in a certain way, then the tax can have the same growth rate as income, and then the dynamic marginal rate equals the average tax rate. This holds for individuals and for the macro data if all individuals are on a balanced growth path. ”

“ The full cash value base may reflect from year to year the inflationary rate not to exceed 2 percent for any given year or reduction as shown in the consumer price index or comparable data for the area under taxing jurisdiction, or may be reduced to reflect substantial damage, destruction, or other factors causing a decline in value. ”

“ If this goingconcern value be treated as separable 'intangible property,' the statutory rate is fifty cents per $100, at which rate tangible property worth only $129,279 must be deemed to have an intangible going-concern value of $13,290,942. In other words, every dollar invested in the tangible property of an express business is deemed worth over $100 for tax purposes. ”

“ At the same time, the main features of the tax become fairly evident to any one who makes a careful study of the provisions of the act, even though its application to specific cases may remain doubtful.
The law provides that incomes shall be subject to a tax of one per cent. on the amount by which they exceed the prescribed minimum limit of exemption. This is designated as the "normal income tax." There is, then, an "additional tax" of one per cent, on the amount by which any income exceeds $20,000. The rate is increased to two per cent. on the amount above $50,000, to three per cent. ”

“ The progressive principle is so applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above the amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The tax should if possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing without the country than within it. ”

“ It appears then, that, to an expenditure of 224l. necessary to produce the present volume, 42l. are added in the shape of a direct tax. Whether the profits arising from such a mode of manufacturing will justify such a rate of taxation, can only be estimated when the returns from the volume are considered, a subject that will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. ”

“ A tax rate of 15 percent is too high for those who earn low wages, so we must lower the rate to 10 percent. (Applause.) No one should pay more than a third of the money they earn in federal income taxes, so we lowered the top rate to 33 percent. ”

“ The principal portion of this taxation consists of rates, that is, a direct charge upon the income or rental of real property, such as lands, houses, railways and mines, but mainly lands and houses. Rates are even a more important factor in direct taxation than the income tax, and they have given rise to even greater complaints and discussion. ”

“ The gross income of a given year includes rents, dividends, wages, and salaries, profits from the transaction of business or sale of property and all other gains, profits, or income derived from any source except such as are specifically exempted. In ascertaining taxable income each tax payer is entitled to deduct from gross receipts wages, salaries, and other expenses of conducting a business, occupation, or profession, depreciation, also cost of property sold. ”

“ Direct taxes are either on income, or on expenditure. Most taxes on expenditure are indirect, but some are direct, being imposed not on the producer or seller of an article, but immediately on the consumer. A house-tax, for example, is a direct tax on expenditure, if levied, as it usually is, on the occupier of the house. If levied on the builder or owner, it would be an indirect tax. A window-tax is a direct tax on expenditure ”

“ This view is somewhat reinforced if, in reading the above-quoted phrase, one touches lightly on the word 'omits' and bears down hard on the words 'gross income,' for where a cost item is overstated, as in the case before us, gross income is affected to the same degree as when a gross-receipt item of the same amount is completely omitted from a tax return. ”

“ The American value, and not the foreign cost, will be the basis of computation for the twenty per cent. The difference, when all is fair, is about thirty-five per cent. in the value; so that an importation of coarse woollens, costing one million in Europe, and now to pay five per cent. on that cost, will be valued, if all is fair, at one million three hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and the twenty per cent. will be calculated on that sum, and will give two hundred and seventy thousand dollars, instead of two hundred thousand dollars, for the quantum of the tax. ”

“ In general usage, and according to the terminology of political economy, a direct tax is one which is levied upon the person who is to pay it, or upon his land or personalty, or his business or income, as the case may be. An indirect tax is one assessed upon the manufacturer or dealer in the particular commodity, and paid by him, but which really falls upon the consumer, since it is added to the market price of the commodity which he must pay. ”

“ From the fruits of his studies in economic science he has sustained, or perhaps first presented, the proposition that the burden of a tax upon any commodity can be truly measured only by its ratio to the margin of profits on a given manufacture rather than by its ratio to the total cost of the product into which the taxed material enters as a component. ”

“ Raising rates is invariably accompanied by a wave of indignation. However, it is apparent that a series of rates based on an annual current price valuation of the property would average exactly the same, during a term of years, as though the property were valued once for all on the basis of the average prices of labor and material for the same term of years, and the rate based on the one valuation thus determined.
If the object of the valuation is to afford data for taxation, the same argument applies as in a case of fixing rates. ”

“ Such must be the operation of all taxes on sales or exchanges. The owner in reality pays it, whether laid on the vender or purchaser. It matters not in the sale of a tract of land, or any other article, if a tax be imposed on the sale, whether it be paid by him who sells or him who buys, the amount must, in both cases, be deducted from the price. ”

“ The section to be construed begins by declaring that these shares may be 'included in the valuation of the personal property of the owner, in assessing taxes imposed by authority of the State within which the association is located.' This valuation, then, is part of the assessment of taxes. It is a necessary part of every assessment of taxes which is governed by a ratio or percentage. There can be no rate or percentage without a valuation. This taxation, says the act, shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed on other moneyed capital. What is it that shall not be greater? ”

“ Eleven hundred pounds payable at the end of one year, when money is at 10 per cent. interest, is of no more value than 1000l. to be paid immediately. If Government delayed receiving the tax for one540 year till the manufacture of the commodity was completed, it would, perhaps, be obliged to issue an Exchequer bill bearing interest, and it would pay as much for interest as the consumer would save in price, excepting, indeed, that portion of the price which the manufacturer might be enabled, in consequence of the tax, to add to his own real gains. ”