KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

1137

TAX

TAX

shared according to the estate, real and per sonal, which each person may possess; or, if raised to defray the cost of some local govern ment of a public nature, it shall be borne by those who will receive some special and pe culiar benefit or advantage which an expen diture of money for a public object may cause to those on whom the tax is assessed. An" excise, on the other hand, is of a different character. It is based on no rule of appor tionment or equality whatever. It is a fixed, absolute, and direct charge laid on merchan dise, products, or commodities, without any regard to the amount of property belonging to those on whom it may fall, or to any sup posed relation between money expended for a public object and a special benefit occasioned to those by whom the charge is to be paid. Oliver v. Washington Mills, 11 Allen (Mass.) 274. —Ad valorem tax. See AD VALOREM:.—Cap itation tax. See that title.—Collateral in heritance tax. See COLLATERAL INHERI TANCE.—Direct tax. A direct tax is one which is demanded from the very persons who, it is intended .or desired, should pay it. In direct taxes are those which are demanded from one person, in the expectation and in tention that he shall indemnify himself at the expense of another. Mill, Pol. Econ. Taxes are divided into "direct," under which desig nation would be included those which are as sessed upon the property, person^ business, in come, etc., of those who are to pay them, and "indirect," or those which are levied on com modities before they reach the consumer, and are paid by those upon whom they ultimately fall, not as taxes, but as part of the market price of the commodity. Cooley, Tax'n, 6. Historical evidence shows that personal prop erty, contracts, occupations, and the like, have never been regarded as the subjects of direct tax. The phrase is understood to be limited to taxes on land and its appurtenances, and on polls. Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533, 19 L. Ed. 482. See Hylton v. U. S., 3 Dall. 171, 1 L. Ed. 556; Pacific Ins. Co. v. Soule, 7 Wall. 445, 19 L. Ed. 95; Scholey v. Rew, 90 U. S. 347, 23 L.. Ed. 99; Springer v. U. S., 102 U. S. 602, 26 L. Ed. 253; Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533, 19 L. Ed. 482; Pollock v. Farmers' U & T. Co., 157 U. S. 429, 15 Sup. Ct. 673, 39 U Ed. 759; Railroad Co. v. Morrow, 87 Tenn. 406. 11 S. W. 348, 2 L. R. A. 853; People v. Knight, 174 N. Y. 475, 67 N. E. 65, 63 L. R. A. 87.—Franchise tax. See FRANCHISE.—Income tax. See INCOME. —Indirect taxes are those demanded in the first instance from one person in the expecta tion and intention that he shall indemnify him self at the expense of another. "Ordinarily all taxes paid primarily by persons who can shift the burden upon some one else, or who are under no legal compulsion to pay them, are considered indirect taxes." Pollock v. Far mers' Lu & T. Co., 157 U. S. 429, 15 Sup. Ct. 673, 39 U Ed. 759; Springer v. U. S., 102 U. S. 602, 26 L.. Ed. 253; Thomasson v. State, 15 Ind. '451.—Inheritance tax. See INHERITANCE.—license tax. See LI CENSE.—Local taxes. Those assessments which are limited to certain districts, as poor rates, parochial taxes, county rates, municipal taxes, etc.—Occupation tax. See OCCUPA TION.—Parliamentary taxes. Such taxes as are imposed directly by act of parliament, *. e., by the legislature itself, as distinguished from those which are imposed by private in dividuals or bodies under the authority of an act of parliament. Thus, a sewers rate, not being imposed directly by act of parliament,

Taylor v. Boyd, 63 Tex. 533; Morgan's Co. T. State Board of Health, 118 U. S. 455, 6 Sup. Ct 1114, 30 I* Ed. 237; Dranga v. Rowe, 127 Cal. 506, 59 Pac. 944; McClelland v. State, 138 Ind. 321, 37 N. E. 1089; Hanson v. Vernon, 27 Iowa, 28, 1 Am. Rep. 215; Bonaparte v. State, 63 Md. 465; Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. State, 49 Ohio St. 189, 30 N. E. 435, 16 L. R. A. 380; Illinois Cent R. Co. v. Decatur, 147 U. S. 190, 13 Sup. Ct 293, 37 I* Ed. 132. In a general sense, a tax is any contribu tion imposed by government upon individuals, for the use and service of the state, whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, Impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name. Story, Const. § 950. Synonyms. In a broad sense, taxes un doubtedly include assessments, and the right to impose assessments has its foundation in the taxing power of the government; and yet, in practice and as generally understood, there is a broad distinction between the two terms. "Taxes," as the term is generally used, are public burdens imposed generally upon the inhabitants of the whole state, or upon some civil division thereof, for govern mental purposes, without reference to pecul iar benefits to particular individuals or prop erty. "Assessments" have reference to impo sitions for improvements which are specially beneficial to particular individuals or prop erty, and which are imposed in proportion to the particular benefits supposed to be con ferred. They are justified only because the improvements confer special benefits, and are just only when they are divided in proportion to such benefits. Roosevelt Hospital v. New York, 84 N. Y. 112. As distinguished from other kinds of taxation, "assessments" are those special and local impositions upon prop erty in the immediate vicinity of munici pal improvements which are necessary to pay for the improvement, and are laid with ref erence to the special benefit which the prop erty is supposed to have derived therefrom. Hale v. Kenosha, 29 Wis. 599; Ridenour v. Saffin, 1 Handy (Ohio) 464; King v. Port land, 2 Or. 146; Williams v. Corcoran, 46 Cal. 553. Taxes differ from subsidies, In being cer tain and orderly, and from forced contribu tions, eta, in that they are levied by author ity of law, and by some rule of proportion which is intended to insure uniformity of contribution, and a just apportionment of the burdens of government Cooley, Tax'n, 2. The words "tax" and "excise," although often used as synonymous, are to be consid ered as having entirely distinct and separate significations. The former is a charge appor tioned either among the whole people of the state, or those residing within certain dis tricts, municipalities, or sections. It is re quired to be imposed, as we shall more fully explain hereafter, so that, if levied for the public charges of government, it shall be

BL.LAW DICT.(2D ED.)—72