delivered the opinion of the court.
As a stockholder of the Union Pacific Railroad Company the appellant filed his bill to enjoin the corporation from complying with the Income Tax provisions of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913, (§ II, ch. 16, 38 Stat. 166). Because of constitutional questions duly arising the case is here on direct appeal from a decree sustaining a motion to dismiss because no ground for relief was stated.
The right to prevent the corporation from returning and paying the tax was based upon many averments as to the repugnancy of the statute to the Constitution of the United States, of the peculiar relation of the corporation to the stockholders and' their particular interests resulting from many of the administrative provisions of the assailed act, of the confusion, wrong and multiplicity
*10
of suits and the absence of all means of redress which would result if the corporation paid the tax and complied with the act in other respects without protest, as it was alleged it was its intention to do. To put out of the way a question of jurisdiction we at once say that in view of these averments and the ruling in
Pollock
v.
Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co.,
Aside from averments as to citizenship and residence, recitals as to the provisions of the statute and statements as to the business of the corporation contained in the first ten paragraphs of the bill advanced to sustain jurisdiction, the bill alleged twenty-one constitutional objections specified in that number of paragraphs or subdivisions. As all the grounds assert a violation of the Constitution, it follows that in a wide sense they all charge a repugnancy of the statute to the Sixteenth Amendment under the more immediate sanction of which the statute was adopted.
The various propositions are so intermingled as to cause it to be difficult to classify them. . We are of opinion, how *11 ever, that the confusion is not inherent, but rather arises from the conclusion that the Sixteenth Amendment provides for a hitherto unknown power of taxation, that is, a power to levy an income tax which although direct should not be subject to the regulation of apportionment applicable to all other direct taxes. And the far-reaching effect of this erroneous assumption will be made clear by generalizing the .many contentions advanced in argument to support it, as follows: (a) The Amendment' authorizes only a particular character of direct tax without apportionment, and therefore if a tax is levied under its assumed authority which does not partake of the characteristics exacted by the Amendment, it is outside of the Amendment and is void as a direct tax in the general constitutional sense because not apportioned, (b) As the Amendment authorizes a tax only upon incomes “from whatever source derived,” the exclusion from taxation of some income of designated persons and classes is not authorized and hence the constitutionality of the law must be tested by the general provisions of the Constitution as to taxation, and thus again the tax is void for want of apportionment. (c) As the right to tax “incomes from whatever source derived” for which the Amendment provides must be considered as exacting intrinsic uniformity, therefore no tax comes under the authority of the Amendment not conforming to such standard, and hence all the provisions of the assailed statute must once more be tested solely under the general and preexisting provisions of the Constitution, causing the statute again to be void in the absence of apportionment, (d) As the power conferred by the Amendment is new and prospective, the attempt in the statute to make its provisions retroactively apply is void because so far as the retroactive period is concerned, it is governed by the preexisting constitutional requirement as to apportionment.
But it clearly results that the proposition and the con *12 tentions under it, if acceded to, would cause one provision of the Constitution to destroy another; that is, they would result in bringing the provisions of the Amendment exempting a direct tax from apportionment into irreconcilable conflict with the general requirement that all direct taxes be apportioned. Moreover, the tax -authorized by the Amendment, being direct, would not come under the rule of uniformity applicable under the Constitution to other than direct taxes, and thus it would come tó pass that the result of the Amendment would be to authorize a particular direct tax not subject either to apportionment or to the rule of geographical uniformity, thus giving power to impose a different tax in' one State or States than was levied in another State or States. This result instead of simplifying the situation and making clear the limitations on the taxing power,, which obviously the Amendment must 'have been intended to accomplish, would create radical .and destructive changes in our constitutional system and multiply confusion.
Rut let-us by a demonstration of the error of -the fundamental proposition as to the significance of the Amendment dispel the confusion necessarily arising from the arguments deduced from it. Refere-’ coming, -however, to the text-of the Amendment, to the end that its significance may be determined in the light of the previous legislative and judicial history of the subject with which the Amendment is concerned and with a knowledge of the conditions which presumptively led up to its adoption and hence of the purpose it was intended to accomplish, we make a brief statement on those subjects.
That the authority conferred upon Congress by § 8 of Article I “to lay.and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises” is exhaustive and embraces every conceivable power of taxation has never been questioned, or, if it has, has been so often authoritatively declared as to render it necessary only to state the doctrine. And it has also never
*13
been questioned from the foundation, without stopping presently to determine under which of the separate headings the power was properly to be classed, that there was authority given, as the part was included in the whole, to lay and collect income taxes. Again it has never moreover been questioned: that the conceded complete and all-embracing taxing power was subject, so far as they were respectively applicable, to limitations resulting from the requirements of Art. I, § 8, cl. 1, that “all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform, throughout the United States,” and to the limitations of Art. I, § 2, cl. 3, that “direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States” and of Art. I, § 9, cl. 4, that “no capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be. taken.” In fact the two great subdivisions embracing, the com-' píete and perfect delegation of the power to tax and the two correlated limitations as to such power were thus aptly stated by Mr. Chief Justice Fuller in
Pollock
v.
Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company, supra,
at page 557: “ In the matter of taxation, the Constitution recognizes the two great classes of direct and indirect taxes, and lays down two rules by which their imposition must be governed, namely: The rule of apportionment as to direct taxes, and the rule of uniformity as to duties, imposts and excises.” It is to be observed, however, as long ago pointed out in
Veazie Bank
v.
Fenno,
Upon the lapsing of a considerable period after, the repeal of the income tax laws referred to, in 1894 an act was passed laying a tax on incomes from all classes of property and other sources of revenue which was not apportioned, and which therefore was of course assumed to come within the classification of excises, duties and imposts which were subject to the rule of uniformity but not to the .rule of apportionment. The constitutional validity of this law was challenged on the ground that it did- not fall within the class of excises, duties and imposts,
*16
bút was direct in the constitutional sense and was therefore void for want of apportionment, and that question came to this court and was passed upon in
Pollock
v.
Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co.,
This is the text of the Amendment:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
It is clear on the face of this text that it does not purport to confer power to levy income taxes in a generic sense — an authority already possessed and never ques* *18 tioned — or to limit and distinguish between one kind of income taxes and another,, but that the whole purpose of the Amendment was to relieve all income taxes when imposed from apportionment from a consideration of the source whence the income was derived. Indeed in the light of the history which we have given and of the decision in the Pollock Case and the ground upon which the ruling in that case was based, there is no escape from the conclusion that the Amendment was drawn for the purpose of doing away for the future with the principle upon which the Pollock Case was decided, that is, of determining whether a tax on income was direct not by a consideration of the burden placed on the taxed income upon which it directly operated, but by taking into view the burden which resulted on the property from which the income was derived, since in express terms the Amendment provides that'income taxes, from whatever source the income may be derived, shall not be subject to the regulation of apportionment. From this in substance it indisputably arises, first, that all the contentions which we have previously noticed concerning the assumed limitations to be implied from the language of the Amendment as to the nature and character of the income taxes which it authorizes find no support in the text and are in irreconcilable conflict with the very purpose which the Amendment was adopted to accomplish. Second, that the contention that the Amendment treats a tax on income as a direct tax although it is relieved from apportionment and is necessarily therefore not subject to the rule of uniformity as such rule only applies to taxes which are not direet, thus destroying the two great’ classifications which have been recognized and enforced from the beginning, is also wholly without foundation since the command of the Amendment that all income taxes shall not be subject to apportionment by a consideration of the sources from which the taxed income may be derived, *19 forbids the application to such taxes of the rule applied in the Pollock Case by which alone such taxes were removed from , the great class of excises, duties and imposts subject to the rule of uniformity and were placed under the other or direct class. This must be unless it can be said that' although the Constitution as a result of the Amendment in express terms excludes the criterion of source of income, that criterion yet remains for the purpose of destroying the classifications of the Constitu- ; tion 'by taking an excise out of the class to which it belongs and transferring it to a class in, which it cannot be placed consistently with the requirements of the Constitution. .Indeed, from another point of view, the Amendment■> ■demonstrates that no such purpose was intended and on the contrary shows that it was drawn with the object of maintaining the limitations of the Constitution and harmonizing their operation. ■ We say this because it is to be observed that although from the date of the Hylton Case because of statements made in the opinions in that case it had come to be accepted that direct taxes in the constitutional sense were confined to taxes levied directly on real estate because of its ownership, the Amendment contains nothing repudiating or challenging the ruling in the Pollock Case that the word direct had- a ■ broader significance since it embraced also taxes levied directly on personal property because of its ownership, and therefore the Amendment at least impliedly makes such wider significance a part of the Constitution — a condition which clearly demonstrates that the purpose was not to change the existing interpretation except to the extent necessary to accomplish the result intended, that is, the prevention of the resort to the sources from which a taxed income was derived in order to cause a direct tax on the income to be a direct tax on the source itself and thereby to take an income tax out of the class of excises, duties and imposts and place it in the class of direct taxes.
*20 We come then to ascertain the merits of the many contentions made in the light of the Constitution as it now stands, that is to say, including within its terms the provisions of the Sixteenth Amendment as correctly interpreted. We first dispose of two propositions assailing the validity of the statute on the one hand because of its repugnancy to the Constitution in other' respects, and especially because its enactment was not authorized by the Sixteenth Amendment.
The statute was enacted October 3, 1913, and provided for a general yearly income tax from December to December of each year. Exceptionally, however, it fixed a first period embracing only the time from March 1, to December 31, 1913, and this limited retroactivity is assailed as repugnant to the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and as inconsistent with the Sixteenth Amendment itself. But the date of the -retroactivity did not extend beyond the time when the Amendment was operative, and there can be no dispute that there was power by virtue of the Amendment during that period to levy the tax, without apportionment, and so far as the limitations of the Constitution in other respects are concerned, the contention is not open, since in
Stockdale
v.
Insurance Companies,
“The right of Congress to have imposed this tax by a new statute, although the measure of it was governed by the income of the past year, cannot be doubted; much less can it be doubted that it could impose such a tax on the incom.e of the current year, though part of that year had elapsed when the statute was passed. The joint resolution of July 4th, 1864, imposed a tax of five per cent, upon all income of the previous year, although one tax on it had already been paid, and no one doubted the validity of the tax or attempted to resist it.”
*21 The statute provides that the tax should not apply to enumerated organizations or corporations, such as labor, agricultural or horticultural organizations, mutual savings banks, etc., and the argument is that as the Amendment authorized a tax on incomes “from whatever source derived,” by implication it excluded the power to make these exemptions. But this is only a form of expressing the erroneous contention as to the meaning of the Amendment, which we have already disposed of. And so far as this alleged illegality is based on other provisions of the Constitution, the contention is. also not open, since it was expressly considered and disposed'of in Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U. S. 108, 173.
Without expressly stating all the other contentions, we summarize them to a degree adequate to enable us to typify and dispose of all of them.
1. The statute levies one tax called a normal tax on all incomes of individuals up to $20,000 and from that amount up by gradations, a progressively increasing tax called an additional tax, is imposed. No t'ax, however, is levied upon incomes of unmarried individuals amounting to $3,000 or less nor upon incomes of married persons amounting to $4,000 or less. The progressive tax and the exempted amounts, it is said, are based on wealth alone and the tax is therefore repugnant to the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
2. The act provides for collecting the tax at the source, that is, makes it the duty of corporations, etc., to retain and pay the sum of the tax on interest due on bonds and mortgages, unless the owner to whom the interest is payable gives a notice that he claims an exemption. This duty cast upon corporations, because of the cost -to which they are subjected, is asserted to be repugnant to due process of law .as a taking of their property without compensation, and we recapitulate various contentions as to discrimination against corporations and against individ *22 uals predicated on provisions of the. act dealing with the subject:
(a) Corporations indebted upon coupon and registered bonds are discriminated against, since corporations not so indebted are relieved of any labor or expense involved in deducting arid paying the taxes of individuals on the income derived from bonds.
(b) Of the class of corporations indebted as above stated, the law further discriminates against those which have assumed the payment of taxes on their bonds, since although some or all of their bondholders may be exempt from taxation, the corporations have no means of ascer-. taining such fact, and it would therefore result that-taxes would often be paid by such corporations when no taxes were owing by the individuals to the Government.
• (c) The law discriminates against owners of corporate' bonds in favor of individuals none of whose incomé is derived from su'ch property, since bondholders are, during the. interval between the (deducting and the paying of the tax on their bonds, deprived of the use of the money so withheld.
(d) Again corporate bondholders are discriminated against because the law does not release them from payment of taxes on their bonds even after the taxes have been deducted by the corporation, and. therefore if after deduction the corporation should fail, the bondholders would be compelled to pay the tax a second time.
(e) Owners of -bonds the taxes on which have been assumed by the corporation are discriminated against because the payment of the taxes by the corporation does not relieve the bondholders of their duty to include the income from such bonds in making a return of all income, the result being a double payment of the taxes, labor and expense in applying for a refund, and á deprivation of the use of the sum of the taxes during the interval which elapses before they are refunded. • '
*23 3. The provision limiting the amount of interest paid which may be deducted from gross income of corporations for the purpose of fixing the taxable income to interest on indebtedness not exceeding one-half the sum of bonded indebtedness and paid-up capital stock, is also charged to be wanting in due process because discriminating between different classes of corporations and individuals.
4. It is urged that want of due process results from the provision allowing individuals to deduct from their gross income dividends paid them by corporations whose incomes are taxed and not giving, such right of deduction to corporations.
5. Want of due process is also asserted to result from the fact that the act allows & deduction of $3,000 or $4,000 to those who pay the normal tax, that is, whose incomes are $20,000 or less, and does not allow the deduction to those whose incomes are greater than $20,000; that is, such persons are not allowed for the purpose of the additional or progressive tax a second right to deduct the $3,000 or $4,000 which they have already enjoyed. And a further violation of due process is based on the fact that for the purpose of the additional tax no second right to deduct dividends received from corporations is permitted.
6. In various forms of statenient, want of due process, it is moreover insisted, arises from the provisions of the act allowing a deduction for the purpose of ascertaining the taxable income of stated amounts on the ground that the provisions discriminate between married and single people and discriminate between husbands and wives who are living together and those who are not.
7. Discrimination and want of due process results, it is said, from the fact that the owners of houses in which they- five are not compelled to estimate the rental value in making up their incomes, while those who are living in rented houses and pay rent are not allowed, in making up their taxable income, to deduct rent which they have *24 paid, and that , want of due process also results from the fact that although family expenses are not as a rule permitted to he deducted irom gross, to arrive at taxable* •income, farmers are permitted to omit from their income return, certain products of the farm which are susceptible of use by them for sustaining their families during the year.
So far as these numerous and minute, not to sáy in many respects hypercritical, contentions are based upon an assumed violation of the uniformity clause, their want of legal merit is at once apparent, since it is settled that that clause exacts only a. geographical uniformity and there is not a semblance of ground in any of the propositions for assuming that.a violation of such uniformity is complained of.
Knowlton
v.
Moore,
So far as the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment is relied upon, it suffices to say that there is no basis for such reliance since it is equally well settled that such clause is not a limitation upon the taxing power conferred upon Congress by the Constitution; in other words, that the Constitution does not conflict with itself by conferring upon the one hand a taxing power and taking the same power away on the other by the limitations of the due process clause.
Treat
v.
White,
We have not referred to a contention that because certain administrative powers to enforce the act were conferred by the statute upon the Secretary of the Treasury, therefore it was void as unwarrantedly delegating legislative authority, because we think to state the proposition is.to answer it.
Field
v.
Clark,
Affirmed.
