CHAPTER XXII.
REVENUE AND TAXATION.
Revenue.--The regulation of revenue and taxation is one of the most important and difficult questions of government. One of the wisest of modern statesmen has said that the management of finance is government.
Government, whatever its form, is an intricate and expensive machine, and therefore sure and ample sources of revenue are as necessary to it as blood is to the human body. The necessary expenses of a local community, such as a village, a city, or a county, are heavy; while those of a State are immense, and those of a nation almost beyond conception. These expenses must be promptly met, or the government becomes bankrupt, lacking in respect, without power to enforce its rights even among its own people, and finally ceases to exist.
TAXATION.--The chief source of revenue in all governments is taxation. A tax is a portion of private property taken by the government for public purposes. Taxation, the act of laying taxes, is regarded as the highest function of government. It is also one of the most delicate, because it touches the people directly, and is therefore frequently the cause of discontent among the masses.
The government makes no direct return to the citizen for the taxes it exacts, and in this respect only does taxation differ from the exercise of the right of eminent domain. How much revenue must be raised? what articles should be taxed? what should be the rate of taxation? are questions that concern every government.
As a person may be at the same time a citizen of a village, a township, a county, a State, and the United States, so he may, during the same year, pay a separate tax to each of these five governments.
NECESSITY OF TAXATION.--Taxation is one of the necessary burdens of society. A government as well as an individual must have money to pay its expenses, and the principal part, if not all, of this money must be raised by taxation of one kind or another. Men may differ as to the kind and the rate of taxation, but taxes must be paid in order that government may exist. The tax payer receives no immediate return for his taxes, but has a constant return in the way of protection to life, liberty, and property, the enjoyment of public conveniences, and the improvement of society.
By means of taxes each person bears his part in the cost of maintaining the social compact. He gives up a portion of his property in order that what remains may be the more secure and valuable, and that he may enjoy many other blessings that would otherwise be impossible. Although the rate is often high, even higher than necessary, it is safe to say that every tax payer of the country receives from the government more than he contributes by taxation.