Liquors, Wines, And Tobacco

The Commissioner of Internal Revonue raafces the following recommendalions : TAX UPON LIQOOItS. An increase of the tax upon distilled spirits to sixty cents a gallon is reeotuinended. It is ulso sugested that a tax upr-n muit of thirty cetts a bushei be impos d, but should it be deenied advis abie to continue the exception of malt, iiid tax only the hquor produced by it, it seems certain thal the revcnue niight be c nsiderably increascd by a judicious enlargeinent of the tax, say to ono dollar aud fifty ceuts per barrel. WINES. The use of wines and the tax on thüin are tlms treated in the report : "Tde cultivation of tho grape and the manufacture of wine in t It is country is s ill in an iufant state, and good policy would seeiu to require iliat they be enoour;ged. Though the experier.ee of Europe has sbown that the consurr.ption of (s snot reduced by high rates of duties, it may be in -ome respects owing to the fuct that chenp wines are not furnislud to the consume-. If cheap, mild wine could be made to superst'de spirits, as the common liquorof the million, the result would be gratilying both in a moral and industrial poiut of view, add any modifieation of the excise tending in that dirvction would bo desirable. I apprehond, howe.er, that the taxouspiiils must ascend to a much ljitli'T figure than bas jet boen proposed bcfiiie imy apprectable fact will be produced in determioing the choice of liquors on the part of those who babitually drink, and that at all events, in the present needs of the country for in creased icvenuo, a duty of ten cents per gillon on native wines will not be suverely feit or be deemed unreasonable. Tlu'se changes in the amount of duty to be laid on spirituous, vinous, and malt liquors i-eem to be suggested by common experience and the policy wbrêb obtains in every wi'll poised system of taxalion. They belong to a class of luxuries whieh mny be properly denominated hurtful, and, if the eonsuinption should happen to be affected by the weight of the taxi's, the result would not be without compensstion to the consumer and the country. The duties are now very low, iu view of the modes of uing the subjeets of thein. Twenty cents a gallon is but (ine cent and a a half pint - a quantity usually sufficient, I presume, for one day's allowance lor a moderate drinker. Th ree times that tax would not be sensibly feit, in a proportionable increase of price. If it would exert any influence on eonsuinption, it would be in favor of the cheaper "liquors, ,wliieh. for tliat reason. oould then better bear somo nddftional duty. "If in makiiig your estimates of the needs of the goveftiment, it sliould be fouid that no considerable inórense in the amount derivcd from internal duties is desired, I should think it a question wortliy of coiisideratioii whether some mincrease of tax on ill hurtful luxurics, iiicluding even tobáceo, would be eligible, 80 that relief might be afforded to those inteiests tliat produce the common nccessaries of life. If au inoroase of the tax on cerlain products of which the se is purely voluntary, and at the same trne at least useless, would be attended by a dijiiniition of tax on such comino dities as cotitribute to the support, comfort, 01 enjoymeiit of the community, the propriety of the change would seem to be obvious. Uut if a large revenue is wanted t aid in sustnioing theuational credit j nul supplying means for the largo expenditureo incident to tlie war, the reason for the olinnge would beeoine imincible." TOUACCORogarding tobáceo as puroly a luxury, and ii) no wny a necessary of life, the Comuiissioner reeomniends a largo increaso of the tax upon it. He says. "Tliis year notwithstanding the extensive planting in the Noithcrn and Middle States, the erop is estiinated in the last report of the Ágricultural bureau, at only two huudred and flfty cight millions; being still one hundred andseventy millions of pounds lessthau in 18G0. Wliilc the domestic pronur-tion is thusdimii.isli ed, the foreign demand has been con stout ly incre:ising, and it will not be likely to be seriously affeuted by tho diflferenco in price which its cxpoitation, subject to our excife on the raw material i will occasion. I therefore, bcg leave to submit tho propositiou that tobacoo be I taxed in the leaf in the hands of tho proj ducer, and thüt no drawback be allowed ód ite ex{Virtf!rtrj io thit hipo pn ibat the cost to the foreign manufncturer mny bo increaaed to the extent of our oxci-e. If any drawback is to be allowed, the proper poliey of encournging and sustaining our own manufacturer ngiiinst adverse legislation of a foreign government, seems to require that it siiall be allowed, if at all, only on the manulaotured artiole. - The extent to which tlie allowance ihould go is a question of some nicety. The tax on tobáceo in the leaf, wi li II sterns on, might, I think, be fixed with advantage to the revenue, and without injury to the producer, at twenty cents )er pound. A light tax varying from ive to ten or twelve cents per pound additional, might be impoaed on the ïnanu'actured commodity. A drawbaok on bis from ten to fifteen cents would give o the domestic manufacturer all the advantage he would desire in tbfl foreijgu market, and would, in aon:e mesure, countervail the legislatiou of foreigu liu;ions to his prejudice."