B. Is the income tax practicable?
C. Is the income tax just?
PROOF
I. The progressive income tax is necessary, for
A. It is necessary in meeting national exigencies, for
1. In case of war the customs duties would cease or be impaired and the government would be without another source from which to draw revenue were not the income tax available. (Norris Brown, U. S. Senator from Neb. in Outlook, 94: 217.)
2. Governor Hughes of New York believes this power (that of levying the income tax) should be held by the Federal Government so as to equip it with the means of meeting national exigencies. (Outlook, 94: 110.)
3. Refutation. The argument that the income tax is not necessary on the grounds that other taxes can be made to cover all necessities is unsound, for
a. In case of war with a great commercial nation when the country would be in the greatest need of revenues, the collection of imposts would cease or be materially diminished. (Justice Harlan of the U. S. Supreme Court in his dissenting opinion in the Pollock Case. Outlook, 94:217.)
II. The progressive income tax is practicable, for