The New Orleans Daily Democrat

WASHINGTON.

THE INCOME TAX BILL.

Duty on Tobacco and Cigars.

WASHINGTON, April 20.-The Committee on Ways and Means to-day agreed to a bill imposing a duty of sixteen cents per pound on all manufactured tobacco; five dollars per 1000 on cigars; and on cigarettes weighing less than three and a half pounds $1.25, and over that weight five dollars. The bill also imposes a tax of 2 per cent on all incomes over $2000, the tax to go into effect July 1, 1879; a like tax is payable on all interest coupons and dividends of all banks, Savings institutions, trust, insurance and railroad companies, and other corporations. Savings bank deposits below $2000 are to be exempt from tax.

Provisions of the Income Tax Bill.

WASHINGTON, April 20.-The income tax bill, agreed upon by the Committee on Ways and Means to-day, provides that in estimating the gains, profits and income of any person there shall be included all incomes derived from any kind of property, rents, interest received on account upon all notes, bonds and mortgages, or other forms of indebtedness; interest whether paid or not, if good and collectible; interest upon notes, bonds or other securities of the United States, and the amount of all premium on gold and coupons; the gains, profits and incomes of any business, profession, trade, employment, office or vocation, including any amount received as salary or pay for service in civil, military, naval or other service of the United States, or as Senator, Representative or delegate in Congress.

The share of any person of the gains and profits, whether divided or not, of all companies or partnerships, but not including the amount received from any corporations whose officers, as authorized by law, withhold and pay as taxes a per centum of the dividends made, and of interest to the coupons paid by such corporations.

Profits above cost and expenses actually received in cash or cash value realized within the year from sales of real estate purchased within two years previous to the year for which the income is estimated. The amount of sales of live stock, sugar, wool, butter, cheese, pork, beef, mutton and other meats, hay, grain, fruits, vegetables and other productions, being the growth or produce of the estate of such person, but not including any part thereof consumed directly by the family, and all other gains, profits and income drawn from any source whatever, but not including the rental value of the homestead owned and used or occupied by any person, or by his family, provided that no gift, devise nor property acquired by an inheritance, distribution or succession, shall be accounted as gains, profit or income under this section.

Military or naval pensions allowed to any person under the laws of the United States, and the sum of $2000 of the gains, profits and income of any person shall be exempt from said income tax, in the manner hereinafter provided.

Only one deduction of $2000 shall be made from the aggregate income of all the members of any family, composed of one or both parents and one or more minor children, or of husband and wife; but when a wife has by law a separate income, beyond the control of her husband, and is living separate and apart from him, such deduction shall then be made from her income, gains and profits; and guardians and trustees shall be allowed to make the deduction in favor of each ward or beneficiary, except that in case of two or more wards or beneficiaries comprised in one family, having joint property interests, only one deduction shall be made in their favor.

For the purpose of allowing said deduction from the income of any religious or social community holding all their property and income therefrom jointly and in common, each five of the persons composing such society, and any remaining fractional number of such persons less than five over such groups of five, shall be held to constitute a family, and a deduction of $2000 shall be allowed for each of said families, in addition to the exemptions provided in the preceding section.

There shall be deducted from the gains, profits and income of any person, all premiums on insurance of life and property, and all national, State, county and municipal taxes paid by him within the year, whether such person be the owner, tenant or mortgager; all his losses actually sustained during the year, arising from fires, floods, shipwrecks, or incurred in trade, and all debts ascertained to be worthless, but including all estimated depreciation of values, the amount of interest paid during the year and the amount paid for rent or labor to cultivate land or to conduct any other business from which income is derived; the amount paid for rent of house or premises occupied as a residence for himself or his family, and the amount paid out for the usual ordinary repairs.

No deduction shall be made for any amount paid out for new buildings, or permanent improvements to increase the value or any property or estate.

The salaries of the President of the United States, and of all judges of the United States, and all officers, executive, judicial and legislative, of any State of the Union, shall also be deducted from the gains, profits and income of any person, and be exempt from the said tax, and consuls of foreign governments, who are not citizens of the United States, shall be exempt from any income tax imposed by this act, which may be derived from their official emoluments or from property in foreign countries, provided that the governments which such consuls may represent shall extend similar exemption to consuls of the United States.

The tax hereinbefore provided shall be assessed upon gains, profits and income for half the year, ending the thirty-first day of December, 1879, and for each succeeding year, as herein provided, and shall, after assessment, be due and payable upon notice and demand made, as provided by section 3184 of the Revised Statutes.

When said tax shall have been assessed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and said lists shall have been returned to the collector, he shall at once proceed to collect the tax assessed in the same manner as all other assessed taxes are required by law to be collected, and in case of default in the payment of the tax as required, or any part thereof, the penalty of 5 per cent and interest at the rate of 1 per cent per month shall also be collected in the manner prescribed by law in the case of other assessed taxes.

If any person liable to pay the said tax neglects or refuses to pay the same for ten days after demand, the amount shall be a lien in favor of the United States from the time it was due until paid, except in case of deceased, insane or insolvent persons.