Direct tax

A direct tax is one which is demanded from the very persons who, it is intended .or desired, shmild pay it. Indirect taxes are those which are demanded from one person, in the expectation and intention that he shnil indemnify himself at the expense of another. Mill, Pol. Eicon. Taxes are divided into "direct," under which designation would be included those which are assessed upon the property, person, business, income, etc., of those who are to pay them, and "indirect," or those which are levied on commodities before they reach the consumer, and are paid by those upon whom they ultimately fall, not as taxes, but as part of the market price of the commodity.

Cooley, Tax'n, 6.

Historical evidence shows that personui property, contracts, occupations, and the like, have never been regarded as the subjects of direct tax. The phrase is understood to be limited to taxes on land and its appurtenances, and on polis.

Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533 , 19 In Ed. 482. See Hvlton v. U. S., 3 Dall. 171 . 1 L. Ed. 556; Pacific Ins. Co. v. Soule, 7 Wall. 445, 19 L. Ed. 95: Scholey v. R?w, 90 U. S. 347, 23 L. Ed. 99; Springer v. U. S„ 102 U. S. 602, 26 In Ed. 253; Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533 , 19 L. Ed. 482; Pollock v. Farmers' It. & T. Co., i57 U. S. 429, 15 Sup. Ct. 673, 39 L. Ed. 759; Railroad Co., v. Morrow, 87 Tenn. 406. 11 S. W. 348, 2 L. R. A. 853; People v. Knight, 174 N. Y. 475, 67 N. E. 65, 63 L. R. A. 87.