Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/85

Rh Every foreigner staying in Prussia more than one year, but with no intent of becoming a permanent resident, must expect to be taxed on his income at the expiration of the first year, although none of the sources of such income may be within the territorial jurisdiction of Prussia. Up to the year 1891-'92 the income tax of Prussia was levied by a board of income-tax commissioners, one third of whom were appointed by the authorities and two thirds by the taxpayers. The assessing was done by the board on information and evidence obtainable; and in the absence of authentic proof as to the amount of annual income, "circumstantial id hypothetical evidence was accepted" Parties thus assessed might appeal from the conclusions of the board to another tribunal organized for that purpose, whose decision was final. Appeals are not often made to this latter board, as the methods adopted by it to bring unwilling or evasive taxpayers to terms are harsh and inquisitorial in the extreme and most peremptory. The modus procedente against delinquent taxpayers is very summary. If after three days' written notice payment fails to be made, a mandate is issued by the tax collector, and the property of the delinquent, especially his household goods, is seized and sold. By another curious provision in the German tax law the collector of taxes is made personally liable for any taxes lost by reason of his failing to mercilessly enforce the collection within a prescribed period. In 1891 some mitigation of the harsh proceedings involved in the assessment of the income tax in Prussia was made by the Government, and now every taxpayer is allowed to make a return.

—The idea of a general income tax as a means of raising revenue was first embodied in the form of a statute in Great Britain under the administration of Mr. Pitt, in 1798, and was proposed and advocated solely as a means for obtaining additional revenue for the prosecution of the war with France. It imposed a tax of ten per cent on all incomes in excess of £200 ($1,000). After the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, it was repealed on the ground that a tax of this character ought to be exclusively reserved for the exigencies of war; and for a like reason it was reimposed on a revival of the war during the following year. Subject to various modifications, it formed an important constituent of the fiscal system of Great Britain until after the battle of Waterloo and the peace of 1815, when it was again repealed. After this, nothing more was heard about it until 1842, when Sir Robert Peel reimposed it as a merely temporary measure—i. e., for a period of five years. It has, however, since remained a permanent feature of the British fiscal system, although its repeal has been promised and anticipated by various administrations, and in the general election of 1874 Mr.