Supplies the mechanism behind a scale-dependent tax advantage while preserving Slaughter’s warning that unequal effect does not prove coordinated intent.
Slaughter distinguishes the excise law’s gallon and capacity options and explains how utilization and capital scale affected their effective rates.
Since the stills of farmers tended to be smaller, less efficient, and idle for most of the year, it would not benefit them to pay a fixed rate on the capacity of the still. Only those who operated their stills on a continuous basis could profit by this option and hence only these larger and more innovative operations would be able to realize the three-cent-per-gallon advantage described by the Secretary of the Treasury.
PDF p. 155; printed p. 148
PDF p. 155; printed p. 148
Chapter 9 — Alternative Perspectives
Visually checked against rendered PDF p. 155 / printed p. 148 on 2026-08-24. Re-audited against rendered PDF p. 155 on 2026-09-07: restored the remainder of the second sentence; the former ending after 'option' incorrectly substituted a full stop for continuing text.
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Direct Quote from Slaughter; checked against the supplied source, not independent corroboration of the historical claim.
Evidence
Since the stills of farmers tended to be smaller, less efficient, and idle for most of the year, it would not benefit them to pay a fixed rate on the capacity of the still. Only those who operated their stills on a continuous basis could profit by this option and hence only these larger and more innovative operations would be able to realize the three-cent-per-gallon advantage described by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Location and context
Source: No access
Start: PDF p. 155; printed p. 148
End: PDF p. 155; printed p. 148
Section: Chapter 9 — Alternative Perspectives
Slaughter distinguishes the excise law’s gallon and capacity options and explains how utilization and capital scale affected their effective rates.
Annotation
Supplies the mechanism behind a scale-dependent tax advantage while preserving Slaughter’s warning that unequal effect does not prove coordinated intent.
Knowledge connections
Literature note: 
Citation:
Supported claims:
Verification checklist
Verification status: Verified.
Visually checked against rendered PDF p. 155 / printed p. 148 on 2026-08-24. Re-audited against rendered PDF p. 155 on 2026-09-07: restored the remainder of the second sentence; the former ending after 'option' incorrectly substituted a full stop for continuing text.