Salt Lake City, U.T.
April 5. 1872
Jno. P. Taggart Esq.
Assessor U.S. Internal Revenue.
Dear Sir:--
Your favor of 28th ultimo was received by me on the 30th: On the 28th ultimo I subscribed in your presence the "Detailed Statement (as furnished by the Departmement) of Income, Gains and Profits of" myself as Trustee in Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the year 1868 and also to a similar Return for each of the years of 1869. 1870. 1871. and when you received my oath thereto I was in hopes it was at last distinctly understood that, to quote the words of Mr. Pleasanton in decision of 13th Jany 1871. "the tithes collected by said Church from its members were voluntary donations and as not subject to an income tax", and that said returns, signed by myself as said Trustee, and to which I made oath before you were fully satisfactory, as they included as required by Mr. Pleasanton's decision, all "of the annual gains and increase derived from said donations or from any portion of them as was invested in or devoted to financial or secular pursuits." having been taken directly from the books by Mr. Ellerbeck, Clerk, who offered to verify the same by your inspection, and also included an estimate of $5000. per year gain, to cover every contingency in case there might by any possibility have been a gain or increase of which we have no account, or knowledge. But in addition to the proper and true increase, gains, and profits, of myself as said Trustee, and an extra amount estimated as aforesaid your favor asserts that my list of disbursements show that I have disbursed certain sums for affairs of this world, and therefore the entire amount so devoted ought to be taxed; and inferentially that I ought to pay the tax; that my reports show among other things that there have been sums obtained from me by a newspaper editor (Geo. Q. Cannon) and I must pay, in your judgment, a tax on what I let him have! same with a certain Telegraph Co. also a canal company, and others; and that "the means appropriated for their use is subject to tax under the Internal Revenue laws," as "you feel that they were clearly financial investments" and that I admit an income accruing to me as such Trustee through my reports showing that I have so devoted certain sums. Now, it occurs to me, that if anybody gets anything from me, it is their gain or income, and not mine.--and that you err in stating I admit an income of the amounts so appropriated--in fact it is quite the contrary; I admit or claim as said Trustee, an outgo--disbursement--expenditure, loan or loss, in all those lists of disbursements: all the income I admit is shown in the returns I made oath to, and the detailed extracts which from the books I previously furnished you for your satisfaction, which are included in the returns, and the amount per year estimated is thrown in to satisfy you and so that we can pay something, as it appears to be desired that we pay something. To particularize the items you refer to. The Deseret Telegraph Co. is assisted to quite an amount, because we found it neccessary for the existence of some of our outside settlements to provide them with this means of intercommunication as a means of prompt and general defense against the Indian depredations, and it has been very useful for our people and its being extended to our outer settlements which are sparsely populated, it has always been a non paying institution and is supported by means from the Tithing funds -- thus it is a charitable institution at present, of which in one sense the non-mormons have equal and more than equal benefits in the comparatively low price of messages which as I said before are not sufficient to pay the operators, while our church funds are devoted annually to make up the deficiency. The Irrigation and Navigation (Canal) Co was an enterprise by which it was expected to ship or boat the granite rock for our Temple some 20 miles distant so as to avoid the costly transportation by teams, but has not been finished and now the Railroad may supersede it perhaps in this respect, but it has furnished much employment for the laboring poor, and its proposed use in connection with the building of our Temple, stamps it as one and the same, so far as liability to taxation is concerned - in fact there is no income or internal tax on real Estate, or improvements, or investments in general, and not a dollar has yet been earned by said canal, and the amount so devoted being an outgo for Church purposes can in no wise be taxed as an income. The Boot and Shoe Shop was started and with the Tannery were conducted by one of my (Trustee) clerks with the idea of furnishing cheap and good boots & shoes to the men laboring on the temple and other religious edifices, and when the books were balanced, there resulted a loss of several thousand dollars per annum, and were finally discontinued, but that loss was to the benefit of the poor or laboring men so engaged, and such loss was certainly not a gain, nor a profit nor an income, but an outgo, and therefore not a subject of income tax.
The Cove Creek Fort expenses were for a building, corals &c for the use of the persons engaged in taking temporary care of the live stock which may have been donated to the Church and so as to protect that property from the Indians until they are disposed of for the hands engaged in the erection of the Temple &c. This expenditure is necessary to take proper care of the live Stock and carry out the purpose for which said stock is donated, and as such disbursement for that improvement is not income, it does not come within the income tax law. The amount advanced to Erastus Snow with which to build him a house after spending his life in preaching the Gospel, and being comparatively poor, is as yet charged to him, and it is not decided whether he repays it or whether he may have more or less of it eventually donated to him, but the amount so furnished him by me is certainly not my income. So also with all the other items & persons referred to in your favor, only one of whom I will refer to viz Heber Jno. Richards. Our people needing the services at times of reliable surgeons, and desiring to have some of our own people educated to that profession, I advanced to this talented young man a sum near $3000 or sufficient to enable him to go to New York for several years and become thoroughly educated as a surgeon; he returned with first class diploma and is now practising here but the amount advanced to him by me was his benefit and income, (if anybodys,) and not mine, and as far removed so far as I am concerned from the intention of the income tax, as it can possibly be.
The amount paid D.H. Wells for lumber was for the Tabernacle and other buildings on the Temple Block, to be used for religious purposes. All the other items and persons to whom you refer as having received amounts from me are subject to the same interpretation, and I have referred to the foregoing with the same view with which I have furnished your office with complete statements of all the tithes received by our Church throughout the United States of America, and given you consolidated accounts of what has been done with the same, by my self and all the other elders; which was to satisfy you and your late predecessor, and not because I have any idea that it is a proper subject for the United States internal revenue as to how I disburse the funds placed in my hands, as such Trustee, or whether they are disbursed at all or not, and I trust that the 'Returns' to which I have subscribed will be accepted without further, unnecessary delay.
Very respectfully,
Brigham Young
Trustee in Trust of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints
Per T.W. Ellerbeck
Chief Clerk