Taxpayer

“ On the one side, the proposition is that the command that duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States relates to the inherent and intrinsic character of the tax; that it contemplates the operation of the tax upon the property of the individual taxpayer, and exacts that when an impost, duty, or excise is levied, it shall operate precisely in the same manner upon all individuals ”

“ Second, there is no constitutional requirement that the benefits received from a taxing authority by an ordinary commercial taxpayer-or by those living in the community where the taxpayer is located-must equal the amount of its tax obligations. ”

“ But where the legislature of a state, instead of fixing the tax itself, commits to some subordinate body the duty of determining whether, in what amount, and upon whom it shall be levied, and of making its assessment and apportionment, due process of law requires that, at some stage of the proceedings, before the tax becomes irrevocably fixed, the taxpayer shall have an opportunity to be heard, of which he must have notice, either personal, by publication, or by a law fixing the time and place of the hearing. ”

“ The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit in detail the state of the public finances and the condition of the various branches of the public service administered by that Department of the Government.
The revenue of the country, levied almost insensibly to the taxpayer, goes on from year to year, increasing beyond either the interests or the prospective wants of the Government. ”

“ Senator, Praetorian Praefect, to all the Judges of the Provinces.
Duties of the Collectors of Taxes.
'It is an excellent thing that the yearly taxes should be regularly paid. What confidence does the consciousness of this give to the taxpayer, who can march boldly through the Forum, feeling that he owes nothing to anybody and need not fear the face of any official! One can only enjoy an estate if one has no fear of the process-server making his appearance upon it. ”

“ It shall be the duty of said board to see that all taxable property within the county is assessed and returned at its just and fair valuation and that valuations as between the individual taxpayers are fairly and justly equalized so that each taxpayer shall pay as near as may be, only his proportionate share of taxes. ”

“ Both can have effect, and if one does somewhat overlap the other the taxpayer should not be denied, for that reason, what one paragraph clearly grants him. Treasury regulations long enforced support the taxpayer's position, as the opinion below plainly points out. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Still another reason why the payment of taxes implies no consent, or pledge, to support the government, is that the taxpayer does not know, and has no means of knowing, who the particular individuals are who compose "the government." To him "the government" is a myth, an abstraction, an incorporeality, with which he can make no contract, and to which he can give no consent, and make no pledge. He knows it only through its pretended agents. "The government" itself he never sees. ”

“ Persons who pay insular or municipal taxes of any kind, in their own right or name, or in the name of their lawful wife or minor child, or the members of a firm, corporation, or copartnership paying taxes, and the heirs of an estate that pay taxes, are deemed taxpayers under the meaning of this clause. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In that State ten or more taxpayers in a tax district may appeal, to the state tax commission, from the local budget or from a proposed bond issue. After a hearing, the state tax commission may reduce the proposed appropriation or the amount for which bonds may be issued, or eliminate the item altogether. ”

“ Undoubtedly there are general principles, familiar to our systems of state and federal government, that the people who pay taxes imposed by laws are entitled to have a voice in the election of those who pass the laws, and that taxes must be assessed and collected for public purposes, and that the duty or obligation to pay taxes by the individual is founded in his participation in the benefits arising from their expenditure. ”

“ The Treasury
"The Minister for Finance, being vested with the control of the finances of the Government, will have charge of all matters relating to accounts, revenue, and expenditure, taxes, national debts, the currency, banks, and the like, and will have supervision over the finances of each local administration" (Ord. 54, § i) .
Under this Minister there is a Taxation Bureau with three sections — Land Tax, Excise, and Customs.^^^^ The ordinances connected with the remodelled system of taxation and the salaries and expenses of officials are very numerous and minute. ”

“ Section two directs that 'the General Assembly shall provide for levying a tax by valuation, so that every person or corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his or her property; such value to be ascertained by some person or persons to be elected or appointed in such manner as the General Assembly shall direct, and not otherwise.' Section five directs that 'the corporate authorities of counties, townships, school districts, cities, towns, and villages, may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for corporate purposes ”

“ Can any man believe sir, that if $23,000,000 per annum were now levied by direct taxation, or by an apportionment of the same among the states, instead of being raised by an indirect tax, of the severe effect of which few are aware, that the waste and extravagance, of the unauthorized imposition of duties, and appropriations of money for unconstitutional objects, would have been tolerated for a single year? ”

“ 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 ”

“ When a tax is levied, the need by the State levying it of a certain sum of money must first be ascertained by competent authority, legislative or executive, as the case may be, and the law-making power must then, according to a prescribed form, enact that to raise such a sum a certain tax shall be levied on designated property or occupations. ”

“ Unlike fees, they are levied upon real estate and are applied for the purpose of enhancing the value of that real estate. See Tax and Taxation.
(4) Taxes. — In the three kinds of payment thus far discussed, there is in general a direct benefit to the individual, and the payment is only made in exchange for a direct service of the State. In this they differ radically from taxes. The latter are forced contributions to the public treasury. In practice, as in the most advanced financial theory, taxes rest upon the duty of citizens to support the State. ”

“ The taxation thus imposed, nominally upon credits, having resulted in the double taxation of money, the additional tax must be paid by some one. And here all experience, as well as all settled theories of finance, concur that it is not the lender who pays, but the borrower. The borrower is the consumer; the interest that he pays to the lender is the prime cost of the delay for which he has contracted. If the Government, by the imposition of additional taxes, increase the cost, the borrower, being the consumer, must pay for it. ”

“ The first answer to be given to these suggestions, is, that the tax is to be levied upon a valuation of the income of the office. But besides, the obligation upon persons to pay taxes, is mistaken, and the sense in which a tax is a personal charge, is misunderstood. The foundation of the obligation to pay taxes is not the privileges enjoyed or the protection given to a citizen by government, though the payment of taxes gives a right to protection. ”

“ Payment is required to be made to the treasurer of the State, for the use of the State, of a sum equal to three-fourths of one per cent. on the total amount of deposits in such institution, on the first day of July in each year, and the question is whether, by the true construction of that provision, the assessment is properly to be regarded as a tax on property or as a tax on the privileges and franchises of the defendant corporation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A tax is laid by the general government on all the money on hand or on deposit of every citizen of the government at a given date. Such taxation prevails in many of the states. The government has, under its taxing power, the right to lay such a tax. ”

“ Where a tax is imposed by a governmental body other than the legislature, even an administrative agency to which the legislature has delegated taxing authority, due process requires notice to the citizens to be taxed and some opportunity to be heard. ”

“ Taxation only exacts a contribution from individuals of the State or of a particular district, for the support of the government, or to meet some public expenditure authorized by it, for which they receive compensation in the protection which government affords, or in the benefits of the special expenditure. But when private property is taken for public use, the owner receives full compensation. ”

“ These subjects are persons, property, and business. * * * It [taxation] may touch business in the almost infinite forms in which it is conducted, in professions, in commerce, in manufactures, and in transportation. Unless restrained by provisions of the federal Constitution, the power of the state as to the mode, form, and extent of taxation is unlimited, where the subjects to which it applies are within her jurisdiction.' State Tax on Foreign-Held Bonds, 15 Wall. ”

“ All income and expenditure of the State must be pre-estimated for every year, and be presented in the Budget, which shall be annually fixed by a law. Article 100. Taxes and dues for the State Treasury may only be raised in so far as they shall have been included in the Budget or ordained by special laws. Article 101. In the matter of taxes there must be no privilege of persons. Existing tax-laws shall be subjected to a revision, and all such privileges abolished. Article 102. State and Communal officers can only levy dues on the strength of a law. ”

“ Few, comparatively, as they are, the agents and employees of the government constitute that portion of the community who are the exclusive recipients of the proceeds of the taxes. Whatever amount is taken from the community, in the form of taxes, if not lost, goes to them in the shape of expenditures or disbursements. The two — disbursement and taxation — constitute the fiscal action of the government. They are correlatives. What the one takes from the community, under the name of taxes, is transferred to the portion of the community who are the recipients, under that of disbursements. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sufficient revenue to pay all the expenses of the Federal Government, economically administered, including pensions, interest and principal of the public debt, can be got under our present system of taxation from custom-house taxes on fewer imported articles, bearing heaviest on articles of luxury, and bearing lightest on articles of necessity. ”

“ Congress evidently intended by that act, as appears by the one hundred and sixteenth, and the six following sections, to tax all the annual gains, profits, and income of every person residing here, and of every citizen residing abroad, whether derived from any kind of property, rents, interests, dividends, salaries, or from any profession, trade, employment, or vocation, or from any other source whatever, except as therein mentioned, if such annual gains, profits, or income exceed six hundred dollars. ”

“ A tax is an enforced contribution for the payment of public expenses. It is laid by some rule of apportionment according to which the persons or property taxed share the public burden, and whether taxation operates upon all within the state, or upon those of a given class or locality, its essential nature is the same. ”

“ The taxation more or less goes in many countries to feed cutthroats, loafers, gamblers, blacklegs, &c. Many of the people who have immigrated to this Territory come from countries where they have been ground down by taxation. We are more lightly taxed than are the people in any other country, so far as I know.
But what I dislike most is, that when the officer requests the taxes, some will lie from morning until night to escape paying them. If any man ought of right to be exempted from paying his taxes, let him refer his case to the County Court and have his taxes remitted. ”

“ The answer is, taxation. In what respect shall it be not greater than the rate assessed upon other capital? We see that Congress had in its mind an assessment, a rate of assessment, and a valuation; and, taking all these together, the taxation on these shares was not to be greater than on other moneyed capital.
'When taxes have been properly decided upon, an assessment may become an indispensable proceeding in the establishment of any individual charge, against either person or property. ”