[PUBLIC-No. 133.] An Act To provide ways and means to meet war expenditures, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be paid, in lieu of the tax of one dollar now imposed by law, a tax of two dollars on all beer, lager beer, ale, porter, and other similar fermented liquors, brewed or manufactured and sold, or stored in warehouse, or removed for consumption or sale, within the United States, by whatever name such liquors may be called, for every barrel containing not more than thirtyone gallons; and at a like rate for any other quantity or for the fractional parts of a barrel authorized and defined by law. And section thirtythree hundred and thirty-nine of the Revised Statutes is hereby amend ed accordingly: Provided, That a discount of seven and one-half per centum shall be allowed upon all sales by collectors to brewers of the stamps provided for the payment of said tax: Provided further, That the additional tax imposed in this section on all fermented liquors stored in warehouse to which a stamp had been affixed shall be assessed and collected in the manner now provided by law for the collection of taxes not paid by stamps. SPECIAL TAXES. SEC. 2. That from and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, special taxes shall be, and hereby are, imposed annually as follows, that is to say: One. Bankers using or employing a capital not exceeding the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars shall pay fifty dollars; when using or employing a capital exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars, for every additional thousand dollars in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars, two dollars, and in estimating capital surplus shall be included. The amount of such annual tax shall in all cases be computed on the basis of the capital and surplus for the preceding fiscal year. Every person, firm, or company, and every incorporated or other bank, having a place of business where credits are opened by the deposit or collection of money or currency, subject to be paid or remitted upon draft, check, or order, or where money is advanced or loaned on stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange, or promissory notes, or where stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange, or promissory notes are received for discount or sale, shall be a banker under this Act: Provided, That any savings bank having no capital stock, and whose business is confined to receiving deposits and loaning or investing the same for the benefit of its depositors, and which does no other business of banking, shall not be subject to this tax. Two. Brokers shall pay fifty dollars. Every person, firm, or company, whose business it is to negotiate purchases or sales of stocks, bonds, exchange, bullion, coined money, bank notes, promissory notes, or other securities, for themselves or others, shall be regarded as a broker: Provided, That any person having paid the special tax as a banker shall not be required to pay the special tax as a broker. Three. Pawnbrokers shall pay twenty dollars. Every person, firm, or company whose business or occupation it is to take or receive, by 14908-10 145 way of pledge, pawn, or exchange, any goods, wares, or merchandise, or any kind of personal property whatever, as security for the repayment of money loaned thereon, shall be deemed a pawnbroker. Four. Commercial brokers shall pay twenty dollars. Every person, firm or company whose business it is as a broker to negotiate sales or purchases of goods, wares, produce, or merchandise, or to negotiate freights and other business for the owners of vessels, or for the shippers or consignors or consignees of freight carried by vessels, shall be regarded as a commercial broker under this Act. Five. Custom-house brokers shall pay ten dollars. Every person, firm, or company whose occupation it is, as the agent of others, to arrange entries and other custom-house papers, or transact business at any port of entry relating to the importation or exportation of goods, wares, or merchandise, shall be regarded as a custom-house broker. Six. Proprietors of theaters, museums, and concert halls in cities having more than twenty-five thousand population as shown by the last preceding United States census, shall pay one hundred dollars. Every edifice used for the purpose of dramatic or operatic or other representations, plays, or performances, for admission to which entrance money is received, not including halls rented or used occasionally for concerts or theatrical representations, shall be regarded as a theater: Provided, That whenever any such edifice is under lease at the passage of this Act, the tax shall be paid by the lessee, unless otherwise stipulated between the parties to said lease. Seven. The proprietor or proprietors of circuses shall pay one hundred dollars. Every building, space, tent, or area where feats of horsemanship or acrobatic sports or theatrical performances are exhibited shall be regarded as a circus: Provided, That no special tax paid in one State, Territory, or the District of Columbia shall exempt exhibitions from the tax in another State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, and but one special tax shall be imposed for exhibitions within any one State, Territory, or District. Eight. Proprietors or agents of all other public exhibitions or shows for money not enumerated in this section shall pay ten dollars: Provided, That a special tax paid in one State, Territory, or the District of Columbia shall not exept exhibitions from the tax in another State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, and but one special tax shall be required for exhibitions within any one State, Territory, or the District of Columbia. Nine. Proprietors of bowling alleys and billiard rooms shall pay five dollars for each alley or table. Every building or place where bowls are thrown or where games of billiards or pool are played, and that are open to the public with or without price, shall be regarded as a bowling alley or a billiard room, respectively. TOBACCO, CIGARS, CIGARETTES, AND SNuff. SEC. 3. That there shall, in lieu of the tax now imposed by law, be levied and collected a tax of twelve cents per pound upon all tobacco and snuff, however prepared, manufactured, and sold, or removed for consumption or sale; and upon cigars and cigarettes which shall be manufactured and sold, or removed for consumption or sale, there shall be levied and collected the following taxes, to be paid by the manu facturer thereof, namely, a tax of three dollars and sixty cents per thousand on cigars of all descriptions made of tobacco, or any substitute therefor, and weighing more than three pounds per thousand, and of one dollar per thousand on cigars made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, and weighing not more than three pounds per thousand; and a tax of three dollars and sixty cents per thousand on cigarettes made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, and weighing more than three pounds per thousand; and one dollar and fifty cents per thousand on cigarettes made of tobacco or any substitute therefor, and weighing not more than three pounds per thousand: Provided, That in lieu of the two, three, and four ounce packages of tobacco and snuff now authorized by law, there may be packages thereof containing one and twothirds ounces, two and one half ounces, and three and one-third ounces, respectively, and in addition to packages now authorized by law, there may be packages containing one ounce of smoking tobacco. And there shall also be assessed and collected with the exceptions hereinafter in this section provided for, upon all the articles enumerated in this section which were manufactured, imported, and removed from factory or custom house before the passage of this Act bearing tax stamps affixed to such articles for the payment of the taxes thereon, and canceled subsequent to April fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and which articles were at the time of the passage of this Act held and intended for sale by any person, a tax equal to one-half the difference between the tax already paid on such articles at the time of removal from the factory or custom-house and the tax levied in this Act upon such articles. Every person having on the day succeeding the date of the passage of this Act any of the above described articles on hand for sale in excess of one thousand pounds of manufactured tobacco and twenty thousand cigars or cigarettes, and which have been removed from the factory where produced or the custom-house through which imported, bearing the rate of tax payable thereon at the time of such removal, shall make a full and true return under oath in duplicate of the quantity thereof, in pounds as to the tobacco and snuff and in thousands as to the cigars and cigarettes so held on that day, in such form and under such regulations as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may prescribe. Such returns shall be made and delivered to the collector or deputy collector for the proper internal-revenue district within thirty days after the passage of this Act. One of said returns shall be retained by the collector and the other forwarded to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, together with the assessment list for the month in which the return is received, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall assess and collect the taxes found to be due, as other taxes not paid by stamps are assessed and collected. And for the expense connected with the assessment and collection of the taxes provided by this Act there is hereby appropriated the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be required, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the employment of such deputy collectors and other employees in the several collection districts in the United States, and such clerks and employees in the Bureau of Internal Revenue as may, in the discretion of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, be necessary for a period not exceeding one year, to be compensated for their services by such allowances as shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. And the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is authorized to employ ten agents, to be known and designated as internal revenue agents, in addition to the number now authorized in section thirty-one hundred and fifty |