President Taft Proposes 16th Amendment
Special Message to the House of Representatives
and Senate in Congress Assembled
June 16, 1909
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
It is
the constitutional duty of the President from time to time to recommend to the
consideration of Congress such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient. In my inaugural address, immediately preceding this present
extraordinary session of Congress, I invited attention to the necessity for a
revision of the tariff at this session, and stated the principles upon which I
thought the revision should be effected. I referred tothe then rapidly
increasing deficit, and pointed out the obligation on the partof the framers of
the tariff bill to arrange the duty so as to secure an adequate income, and
suggested that if it was not possible to do so by import duties, new kinds of
taxation must be adopted, and among them I recommended a graduated inheritance
tax as correct in principle and as certain and easy of collection. The House of
Representatives has adopted the suggestion and has provided in the bill it
passed for the collection of such a tax. In the Senate the action of its
Finance Committee and the course of the debate indicate that it may not agree
to this provision, and it is now proposed to make up the deficit by the
imposition of a general income tax, in form and substance of almost exactly the
same character as that which in the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust
Company (157 U. S., 429) was held by the Supreme Court to be a direct tax, and
therefore not within the power of the Federal Government to impose unless
apportioned among the several States according to population. This new
proposal, which I did not discuss in my inaugural addressor in my message at
the opening of the present session, makes it appropriate for me to submit to
the Congress certain additional recommendations.
The
decision of the Supreme Court in the income-tax casesdeprived the National
Government of a power which, by reason of previous decisions of the court, it
was generally supposed that Government had. It is undoubtedly a power the
National Government ought to have. It might be indispensable to the nation's
life in great crises. Although I have not considered a constitutional amendment
as necessary to the exercise of certain phases of this power, a mature
consideration has satisfied me that an amendment is the only proper course for
its establishment to its full extent. I therefore recommend to the Congress
that both Houses, by a two-thirds vote, shall propose an amendment to the
Constitution conferring the power to levy an income tax upon the National
Government without apportionment among the States in proportion to population.
This
course is much to be preferred to the one proposed of reenacting a law once
judicially declared to be unconstitutional. For the Congress to assume that the
court will reverse itself, and to enact legislation on such an assumption, will
not strengthen popular confidence in the stability of judicial construction of
the Constitution. It is much wiser policy to accept the decision and remedy the
defect by amendment in due and regular course.
Again,
it is clear that by the enactment of the proposed law, the Congress will not be
bringing money into the Treasury to meet the present deficiency, but by putting
on the statute book a law already there and never repealed, will simply be
suggesting to the executive officers of the Government their possible duty to
invoke litigation. If the court should maintain its former view, no tax would
be collected at all. If it should ultimately reverse itself, still no taxes
would have been collected until after protracted delay.
It is
said the difficulty and delay in securing the approval of three-fourths of the
States will destroy all chance of adopting the amendment. Of course, no one can
speak with certainty upon this point, but I have become convinced that a great
majority of the people of this country are in favor of vesting the National
Government with power to levy an income tax, and that theywill secure the
adoption of the amendment in the States, if proposed to them.
Second,
the decision in the Pollock case left power in theNational Government to levy
an excise tax which accomplishes the same purpose as a corporation income tax,
and is free from certain objections urged to the proposed income-tax measure.
I
therefore recommend an amendment to the tariff bill imposing upon all
corporations and joint stock companies for profit, except national banks
(otherwise taxed), savings banks, and building and loan associations, an excise
tax measured by 2% on the net income of such corporations. This is an excise
tax upon the privilege of doing business as an artificial entity and of freedom
from a general partnership liability enjoyed by those who own the stock.
I am
informed that a 2% tax of this character would bring into the Treasury of the
United States not less than $25,000,000.
The
decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Spreckels Sugar Refining Company
against McClain (192 U. S., 397) seems clearly to establish the principle that
such a tax as this is an excise tax upon privilege and not a direct tax on
property, and is within the federal power without apportionment according to
population. The tax on net income is preferable to one proportionate to a
percentage of the gross receipts, because it is a tax upon success and not
failure. It imposes a burden at the source of the income at a time when the
corporation is well able to pay and when collection is easy.
Another
merit of this tax is the federal supervision which must be exercised in order
to make the law effective over the annual accounts and business transactions of
all corporations. While the faculty of assuming a corporate form has been of
the utmost utility in the business world, it is also true that substantially
all of the abuses and all of the evils which have aroused the public to the
necessity of reform were made possible by the use of this very faculty. If now,
by a perfectly legitimate and effective system of taxation we are incidentally
able to possess the Government and the stockholders and the public of the
knowledge of the real business transactions and the gains and profits of every
corporation in the country, we have made along step toward that supervisory
control of corporations which may prevent a further abuse of power.
I recommend, then, first, the adoption of a joint resolution by
two-thirds of both Houses proposing to the States an amendment to the
Constitution granting to the Federal Government the right to levy and collect
an income tax without apportionment among the States according to population,
and, second, the enactment, as part of the pending revenue measure, either as a
substitute for, or in addition to, the inheritance tax, of an excise tax upon
all corporations measured by 2 % of their net income.
WILLIAM H. TAFT
The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America
Continental Congress of the United Colonies Presidents
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July 1, 1776
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Commander-in-Chief United Colonies & States of America
George Washington: June 15, 1775 - December 23, 1783
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October 29, 1777
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December 10, 1778
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September 28, 1779
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September 29, 1779
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February 28, 1781
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July 6, 1781
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Declined Office
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*Confederate States of America
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(1857-1861)
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United Colonies Continental Congress
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President
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18th Century Term
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Age
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Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745-1783)
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09/05/74 – 10/22/74
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29
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Mary Williams Middleton (1741- 1761) Deceased
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Henry Middleton
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10/22–26/74
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n/a
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Elizabeth "Betty" Harrison Randolph (1745–1783)
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05/20/ 75 - 05/24/75
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30
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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05/25/75 – 07/01/76
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28
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United States Continental Congress
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President
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Term
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Age
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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07/02/76 – 10/29/77
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29
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Eleanor Ball Laurens (1731- 1770) Deceased
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Henry Laurens
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11/01/77 – 12/09/78
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n/a
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Sarah Livingston Jay (1756-1802)
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12/ 10/78 – 09/28/78
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21
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Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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09/29/79 – 02/28/81
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41
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United States in Congress Assembled
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President
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Term
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Age
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Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
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03/01/81 – 07/06/81
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42
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Sarah Armitage McKean (1756-1820)
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07/10/81 – 11/04/81
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25
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Jane Contee Hanson (1726-1812)
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55
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Hannah Stockton Boudinot (1736-1808)
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11/03/82 - 11/02/83
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Sarah Morris Mifflin (1747-1790)
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Anne Gaskins Pinkard Lee (1738-1796)
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Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott (1747-1830)
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11/23/85 – 06/06/86
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Rebecca Call Gorham (1744-1812)
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42
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Phoebe Bayard St. Clair (1743-1818)
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02/02/87 - 01/21/88
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Christina Stuart Griffin (1751-1807)
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01/22/88 - 01/29/89
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36
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Constitution of 1787
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April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
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Martha Wayles Jefferson Deceased
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September 6, 1782 (Aged 33)
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n/a
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40
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48
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50
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December 22, 1828 (aged 61)
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February 5, 1819 (aged 35)
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n/a
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65
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April 4, 1841 – September 10, 1842
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50
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June 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845
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23
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March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849
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41
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60
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July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853
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52
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46
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n/a
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42
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54
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43
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March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881
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45
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March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881
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48
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January 12, 1880 (Aged 43)
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n/a
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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21
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March 4, 1889 – October 25, 1892
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56
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June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
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28
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March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901
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49
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September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
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40
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March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913
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47
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March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914
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52
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December 18, 1915 – March 4, 1921
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43
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March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
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60
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August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929
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44
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March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
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54
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March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
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48
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60
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56
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31
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November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
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50
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56
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56
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49
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January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
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59
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63
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45
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54
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January 20, 2009 to date
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45
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September 27, 1777
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