The tax on whisky distilled in a city, town, or village was based on the quantity distilled. Since the retail price of whisky in the West was about half what it was in the East, the effective tax rate in the West was twice as high, computed as a percentage of the price. Further, stills located outside of a city, town, or village were taxed on their capacity, regardless of whether they actually produced that much.[12] Large distillers (located primarily in the East) could defer their tax payment if they posted a bond, but small (mostly western) distillers had to pay immediately, before removal of their product from the distillery. These and other features of the law made the whisky tax so unfair to the western farmer-distillers that some Hamilton critics have suggested that he intended to provoke opposition, giving the Federal Government a chance to show its strength........this tax was so discriminatory and direct that it is thought that Hamilton (clearly a whig) imposed it with the express purpose of flexing Federal muscle in a show of power.....Show em whos boss, John! .....Thomas Jefferson offered this after Hamiltons death: Hamilton was indeed a singular character of acute understanding, disinterested, honest, and honorable in all private transactions, amiable in society, and duly valuing virtue in private life—yet so bewitched and perverted by the British example as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was essential to the government of a nation.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:18:05 +0000
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