Letter From Washington

The proposed tax bill must be compromised by Congress because the House will not agree on a 2% cotton tax; Radicals want the tax to be at least 5%.

The Senate passed the tax bill at a late hour to-day, and it will now go to a committee of conference of the two Houses, who will very speedily arrange all differences and have it in readiness for the President's signature. The House will not agree to the two percent tax on cotton, and there will have to be a compromise. in this respect Thad. Stevens will assert his power. He as well as the majority of the members of the House, are entirely opposed to the tax being less than five percent, as was originally proposed; but the recommendations of the Senate Finance Committee must have the effect of reducing the higher tax. The general impression from the first has been that three per cent, will be the standard. The Senate lost no time whatever in getting the measure through that body.

“Letter From Washington,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed May 18, 2022, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/234.