On Rhode
Island Would Probably Produce More Than An Income Tax Of Ten Per
Cent.
In Iowa; whereas Rhode Island could pay an income tax of ten
per cent.
Easier than could Iowa one of two per cent.
It would in fact appear that the Constitution as at present framed
is fatal to all direct taxation. Any law for the collection of
direct taxation levied under the Constitution would produce
internecine quarrel between the Western States and those which
border on the Atlantic. The Western States would not submit to the
taxation. The difficulty which one here feels is that which always
attends an attempt at finality in political arrangements. One would
be inclined to say at once that the law should be altered, and that
as the money required is for the purposes of the Union and for State
purposes, such a change should be made as would enable Congress to
levy an income tax on the general income of the nation. But
Congress cannot go beyond the Constitution.
It is true that the Constitution is not final, and that it contains
an express article ordaining the manner in which it may be amended.
And perhaps I may as well explain here the manner in which this can
be done, although by doing so I am departing from the order in which
the Constitution is written. It is not final, and amendments have
been made to it. But the making of such amendments is an operation
so ponderous and troublesome that the difficulty attached to any
such change envelops the Constitution with many of the troubles of
finality.
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