e) Taxes may be levied on selected agencies of industry or on the
process of _business_; such are business taxes, licenses, taxes on
investment in business, and corporation taxes. These burdens are
diffused and rest eventually on some income, rarely to be ascertained
exactly.

Sec. 10. #Defective tax "systems."# The actual tax laws of each division
of government in a country combine the various forms in different
proportions. Most of the federal taxes are from tariff duties and from
internal revenues; the latter include a variety of special business
and property taxes and, since 1913, the federal income tax. The
largest receipts of states, of counties, and of minor divisions are
from property taxes, some special but most of them general in form.
Among the various states a wide diversity is found. Some use the
general property tax for all the divisions (state and local), while
others (several of the Northern states and California) have separated
the sources of state and local taxation, taxing corporations for state
purposes, and most other forms of wealth for local purposes. Some
states, particularly those of the South, make large use of licenses
and taxes on business both for state and local purposes. The tax
laws of many states have been much modified of late and are still in
process of change. It is only in a loose sense that one can speak of
the tax "system" of any state, made up as it is of so many diverse
elements, each used to tap in some independent way some source of
private income for public purposes. Every tax "system" has grown up
more or less accidentally, guided by no more of a general principle
than the advice of the cynical old statesman--so to pluck the
feathers of the goose that it will squawk as little as possible. Thus,
everywhere, the existing situation must be largely accounted for by
custom and ignorance, by the weakness of some classes and the undue
influence of other classes, rather than by clearly thought out
principles soundly administered.

Sec. 11. #Various standards of justice suggested.# There have not been
lacking earnest attempts to arrive at some general principles. Many
standards have been suggested to measure the distribution of the
burden of taxation, such as benefit, equality, and ability. Each of
these terms is capable of various interpretations which have changed
from time to time. The benefit derived by any citizen from most of
the public services evidently cannot be measured wi