Dec. 4.
ARTICLE 27 of the new Constitution recently passed by Parliament and now supposed to be the organic law of China has the following provisions In order to obviate the undermentioned evils, or when deemed necessary for the promotion of public welfare, the nation may by enactment place restriction upon the classification and collection of provincial taxes 1. Taxes detrimental to the national revenue or trade.
2. Double taxes, ete.
Art. 109. The introduction of new taxes and alteration of the rate of taxation shall be The issue of the cigarette tax determined by law.
in Chekiang and Kiangsu Provinees is then clearly joined. In the first place, tobacco taxation has hitherto been recognized as national and a national Wine and Tobacco Bureau has been established to collect the tax. This Bureau has entered into an agreement with the tobacco companies with regard to the method of collecting and paying the tax which has been enforced and which is in accordance with law. To change the tax or the procedure of collection or payment of the tax would, in accordance with Article 109 of the Constitution, require an Act of Parliament. Such an Act not having been passed, the matter of taxation stands where it was and all taxes other than those imposed by the Wine and Tobacco Bureau are clearly and unmistakable illegal.
The second point that has to be raised now is the right of a province under the Constitution to impose a tax which conflicts either with the national revenue and trade or which is a double tax. Clearly under the Constitution no province may raise a tobacco tax, for that is already a national matter and therefore would be a double tax. But further, the tobacco contract
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.