Income Taxation

Methods and Results in Various Countries

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9708213
AutoresJ C Stamp, Josiah Stamp, Kossuth Kent Kennan
Año1912
Volumen22
Número88
Páginas598
Fecha de publicación1912-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
EditorialOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2222274
OpenAlexW2335298629
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas6

tion; revenue." 1 It is evident that the above definition, in so far as it mentions gains, has reference to net income, while the latter portion of the definition would apply to gross income, or gross receipts.That gross receipts ;may differ widely from the popular *f-income will be seen if we take as an the, case of a merchant who may receive 'large 'sums 'of money in the course of a year only to find himself bankrupt at the end of that period.It would hardly be said of him that he had an income to the amount of his gross receipts.On the other hand, in the case of a man who has no other income than his salary, it might be said that his income and his gross receipts were identical.The idea of income will differ somewhat accord- ing to whether it is considered as derived from ser- vices or from property.For example, income has been defined as "the returns which come in to the in- dividual as the result of his economic activities, or from his control of the economic activities of others;" while another writer, having in mind the income from property, says that it "consists of what the property produces ; the profit which comes from its use in business or what is paid for its use by another than its owner." 2It is important to differentiate between the economic and legal conceptions of income.A Ger- 1 .Century Dictionary.Webster's New International Diction- ary (1910) defines income as "that gain or recurrent benefit (usually measured in money) which proceeds from labor, business or prop- erty; commercial revenue or receipts of any kind, including wages or salaries, the proceeds of agriculture and commerce, the rent of houses or the return on investments."DEFINITIONS 7 sertion, and after criticizing the definitions of Cooley and others suggests the following definition as ac- curate and complete :Taxes are simply one-sided transfers of economic goods or services demanded of the citizens and occasionally of those not citizens, but who, nevertheless, are within reach of the taxing power, by the constituted authorities of the land for meeting the expenses of government, or for some other purpose, with the intention that a common burden shall be maintained by common contributions or sacrifices. 12 the risk of seeming presumptuous, we venture the suggestion that whatever taxes may be, they are not "transfers."Many taxes are levied and assessed which are not collected.In such case there is no transfer, "one-sided" or otherwise.The definition seems inconsistent with the statement which immediately follows that "taxes are not an exchange nor are they a payment."Judge Cooley has defined taxes as "the enforced proportional contribution from persons and property, levied by the State, by virtue of its sovereignty, for the support of government and for all public needs/' 13 In another place he says: "Taxes are understood to be burdens or charges imposed by the Legislature upon persons or property, to raise money for public purposes."14 Dr. Ely would criticize both of these definitions as referring solely to public needs and public purposes, claiming that taxes are often levied for other pur- poses.But Judge Cooley's answer to this is : "A burden, laid not for the purpose of producing revenue, but in order to accomplish some ulterior object which 12

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