structure is taxation, by value, of
concrete wealth at the place where it is situated (_in situ_). This
should be regardless of the distribution of ownership or of the
residence of the owner. The present misnamed "general property tax"
already presents the main outlines of this form of taxation and the
general changes necessary in law and method of assessment have been
indicated above.[12] Corporation taxation may be adjusted to this
either by separate treatment and assignment to state purposes only,
or more simply for most states, by assimilating it with the general
taxation of wealth and allotting due shares of the proceeds to the
various taxing divisions.[13] The national government can, because of
its exclusive power of levying tariff duties and also because of
its exclusive control over interstate commerce, reach the tax-paying
ability of the nation effectively by a combination of tariff and
internal revenue taxes. These become a part of business costs, and are
diffused over the whole population in general prices.[14]

This system of impersonal wealth taxation may then be supplemented by
personal taxation, applied through inheritance and income taxes. These
forms of taxation extend over and reach many of the same persons and
incomes as do ultimately the impersonal taxes. But the summation
of personal incomes gives the necessary condition for applying the
principle of progression so far as this is, by public opinion, deemed
desirable either for fiscal or for social reasons.

[Footnote 1: See above, ch.17, sec. 3, note, and sec. 5, on this
distinction. The poll tax also is personal: see ch. 16, sec. 9.]

[Footnote 2: In Utah the tax is 5 per cent on all estates over
$10,000.]

[Footnote 3. Exception, Utah.]

[Footnote 4: Exceptions are Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Virginia.]

[Footnote 5: It would be more consistent with the purpose of
equalizing fortunes to vary the rate not according to the size of the
legacy but according to the size of the fortune which the legatee has,
or would have, after receiving the legacy.]

[Footnote 6: See Vol. I, p. 26.]

[Footnote 7: In addition, certain items of receipts of companies
or incomes of individuals are arbitrarily defined as property for
purposes of taxation in a few cases in about fifteen other states. See
Wealth, Debt, and Taxation, Report of the Bureau of the Census, 1907,
p. 622.]

[Footnote 8: Article XVI. The Congress shall have power to lay and
col