Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act

Democratic Representative James G. Maguire of California, a Georgist, proposed an amendment to the bill that would have established a national single tax. Intended as a substitute for the income tax, it would have levied a direct tax of $31,311,125 on land values nationwide. Only six Representatives voted in favor: Michael D. Harter and Tom L. Johnson of Ohio, Charles Tracey and J. De Witt Warner of New York, Jerry Simpson of Kansas, and Maguire. ==Income Tax Amendment==

The New York Times reported that many Democrats in the East "prefer to take the income tax, odious as it is, and unpopular as it is bound to be with their constituents" to defeating the tariff bill altogether. Democratic Representative Johnson of Ohio supported the income tax as the lesser of two evils: "he was for an income tax as against a tariff tax; but he believed, that it was un-Democratic, inquisitorial, and wrong in principle." ==Legacy==

The income tax provision was struck down in 1895 by the U.S. Supreme Court case ''Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.'', . In 1913, the 16th Amendment permitted a federal income tax. The tariff provisions of Wilson-Gorman were superseded by the Dingley Tariff of 1897. ==References==