2% on all incomes should be levied from the 1st of January 1895 to
the 1st of January 1900, with an exemption of $4000. The legality
of the tax was assailed, chiefly on the ground that it was a direct tax,
and not apportioned among the several states in proportion to their
population. On the 20th of May 1895 the Supreme Court, by a vote
of five to four, declared the tax to be unconstitutional. Accordingly,
before any federal income tax could be imposed, there was needed an
amendment of the constitution, and a movement in this direction
gradually began. In the first year of the presidency of Mr W. H.
Taft both Houses of Congress passed by the necessary two-thirds
majority a resolution to submit the proposal to the 46 states, the
wording of the amendment being “That 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 enumeration.”
Cape Colony.—Cape Colony was the only South African colony which, prior to the Union in 1910, had a system of income tax, which was first imposed by an act of the 31st of May 1904. Incomes not exceeding £1000 per annum were exempt from taxation; incomes exceeding £1000 but not exceeding £2000 were taxed 6d. in the pound on the excess beyond £1000; those between £2000 and £5000 were exempt for the first £1000, paid 6d. in the pound on the next £1000 and 9d. in the pound on the remainder; those exceeding £5000 paid 6d. in the pound on the second £1000, 9d. in the pound on the next £3000 and 1s. in the pound on the remainder.
New South Wales.—Income tax in New South Wales first came into operation on the 1st of January 1896. It is complementary with a land tax, assessed on the unimproved value of freehold lands (with certain exemptions and deductions). Incomes of £200 per annum and under are exempt, and all other incomes (except those of companies) are entitled to a reduction of £200 in their assessments. The rate of tax is 6d. in the pound. There are certain incomes, revenues and funds which are exempt from taxation, such as those of municipal corporations or other local authorities, of mutual life insurance societies and of other companies or societies not carrying on business for purposes of profit or gain, and of educational, ecclesiastical and charitable institutions of a public character, &c.
New Zealand.—In New Zealand the income tax is also complementary with a land tax. Incomes up to £300 per annum are exempt; incomes up to £1000 per annum are taxed 6d. in the pound, with an exemption of £300 and life insurance premiums up to £50; incomes over £1300 pay 1s. in the pound, which is also the tax on the income of trading companies, to whom no exemption is allowed. The income of friendly societies, savings banks, co-operative dairy companies, public societies not carrying on business for profit, &c., are exempt from income tax.
Queensland.—In Queensland income tax is levied on (a) income derived from property such as rents, interest, income from companies, royalties, &c., and (b) on income derived from personal exertion. On income derived from property all incomes not exceeding £100 are exempt; incomes between £100 and £120 pay £1 tax; those over £120 but under £300 have £100 exempt and pay 1s. in each and every pound over £100, while incomes over £300 pay 1s. in each and every pound. Incomes from personal exertion pay 10s. between £100 and £125; £1 between £126 and £150; between £151 and £300 have £100 exempt and pay 6d. in each and every pound over £100: between £301 and £500 6d. in every pound; between £501 and £1000 6d. in every pound of the first £500 and 7d. in every pound over £500, between £1001 and £1500 7d. in every pound of the first £1000, and 8d. in every pound over £1000; incomes over £1500 pay 8d. in every pound; 1s. in every pound is charged on the incomes of all companies and of all absentees.
South Australia.—The income tax dates from 1884 and is levied on all incomes arising, accruing in or derived from South Australia, except municipal corporations, district councils, societies, &c., not carrying on business for the purpose ot gain, and all friendly societies. Where the income is derived from personal exertion the rate of tax is 412d. in the pound up to £800, and 7d. in the pound over £800. For income derived from property the rate is 9d. in the pound up to £800, and 1s. 112d. in the pound over £800. There is an exemption of £150 on incomes up to £400, but no exemption over that limit.
Tasmania.—In Tasmania there is (a) an income tax proper, and (b) a non-inquisitorial ability tax, one complementary to the other. The income tax proper is levied on all income of any company, at the rate of 1s. for every pound of the taxable amount; on all income of any person, at the rate of 1s. for every pound of the taxable amount derived from property, and on every dividend at the same rate. Personal incomes of £400 and over are assessed at the full amount, but an abatement of £10 for every £50 of income is allowed on incomes below £400 down to incomes of £150, which thus have £50 deducted; incomes between £120 and £150 have £60 deducted; incomes between £110 and £120, £70, and incomes between £100 and £110, £80. The ability tax is paid by (a) occupiers and sub-occupiers of property and (b) by lodgers. The amount of tax paid by occupiers or sub-occupiers is calculated upon the assessed annual value of the property occupied, and that of lodgers from the assessed annual value of their board and lodging. A detailed account of both taxes will be found in House of Commons Papers, No. 282 of 1905.
Victoria.—In Victoria the rate of income tax is fixed annually by act. The rate charged on income derived from property is exactly double that charged on income derived from personal exertion, the rate for which for 1905 was: on the first £500 or fractional part thereof, 3d. in the pound; on the second £500 or fractional part thereof, 4d. in the pound; on the third £500 or fractional part thereof, 5d. in the pound; on all incomes in excess of £1500, 6d. in the pound. All companies, except life insurance companies, were charged 7d. in the pound on their incomes; life insurance companies were charged 8d. in the pound.
Bibliography.—The Annual Reports of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, the Reports of Committees and other references mentioned in the article, as well as Dowell’s History of Taxation in England (1884); Dowell’s Acts relating to the Income Tax (6th ed., 1908), and Robinson’s Law relating to Income Tax (2nd ed., 1908).
INCORPORATION (from Lat. incorporare, to form into a body),
in law, the embodying or formation of a legal corporation,
brought about either by a general rule contained in such laws,
e.g. as the Companies acts, and applicable wherever its conditions
are satisfied; or by a special act of sovereign power,
e.g. an incorporating statute or charter. The word is used also
in the sense of uniting, e.g. a will may incorporate by reference
other papers, which may be then taken as part of the will, as
much as if they were set out at length in it.
INCUBATION and INCUBATORS. The subject of “incubation”
(Lat. incubare, to brood; in-cumbere, to lie on),
a term which, while strictly signifying the action of a hen in
sitting on her eggs to hatch them, is also used in pathology
for the development within the body of the germs of disease,
is especially associated with the artificial means, or “incubators,”
devised for hatching eggs, or for analogous purposes of an artificial
foster-mother nature, or for use in bacteriological laboratories.
Life is dependent, alike for its awakening and its maintenance, upon the influence of certain physical and chemical factors, among which heat and moisture may be regarded as the chief. It is therefore obvious that any method of incubation must provide for a due degree of temperature and moisture. And this degree must be one within limits, for while all organisms are plastic and can attune themselves to a greater or less range of variation in their physical environment, there is a given degree at which the processes of life in each species proceed most favourably. It is this particular degree, which differs for different species, which must be attained, if artificial incubation is to be successfully conducted. In other words, the degree of temperature and moisture within the incubation drawer must remain uniform throughout the period of incubation if the best results are to be reached. It is not easy to attain these conditions, for there are many disturbing factors. We may therefore next consider the more important of them.
The chief causes which operate to make the temperature within the incubator drawer variable are the changes of the temperature of the outer air, fluctuations in the pressure of the gas when that is used as the source of heat, or the gradual diminution of the oxidizing power of the flame and wick when an oil lamp is substituted for gas. Also, the necessary opening of the incubator drawer, either for airing or for sprinkling the eggs with water when that is necessary, tends to reduce the temperature. But there is another equally important though less obvious source of disturbance, and this resides within the organism undergoing incubation. In the case of the chick, at about the ninth or tenth days of incubation important changes are occurring. Between this period and the fourteenth day the chick becomes relatively large and bulky, and the temporary respiratory organ, the allantois, together with its veins, increases greatly in size and extent. As a consequence, the respiratory processes are enabled to proceed with greater activity, and the chemical processes of oxidation thus enhanced necessarily largely increase the amount of heat which the chick itself produces. Thus an incubator, to be successful, must be capable of automatically adjusting itself to this heightened temperature.
The drawer of an incubator is a confined space and is usually packed as closely as possible with the contained eggs. The eggs are living structures and consequently need air. This necessitates some method of direct ventilation, and this in its turn necessarily increases the evaporation of water vapour from the surface of the egg. Unless, therefore, this evaporation is checked, the eggs will be too dry at the period—from the tenth day onwards—when
