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Show THE CITIZEN S a good car, and after the days work they have the price and tho ple s tax money which he spent lavishly in gratifying his own deAnd Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, desire to scoot off to a movie, a jazz band, or whatever strikes sires. their fancy theyve already earned their money, and they know and in other ways exhibited a disposition of liberal expenditure, how to enjoy it. The inference is, that relief bills are largely even to the extent that he had 700 wives. When Rehoboam ascended the throne he heaped heavier political appeals for the lame duck agitators who hope to 0reak back into power through championship of what they be- taxes upon the people. The rest of the story is sad, indeed. Whereas, King lieve is a popular measure ; but not knowing the real facts, of course, their diagnosis and their medicine are wrong. might have had a loyal people; willingly supporting the government upon a basis of reasonable expenditure and reasonNow that we are going to the North Pole every few days, it able progress, they turned from such loyalty and the kingdom wont be long until some enterprising Alaskan commercial dub was disrupted. will be promoting the North Pole Highway. There is nothing mysterious or hard to understand in this Bible story, if we apply to our own affairs the principles and Captain Amundsen reports that the undiscovered country he events and the public policies which characterized the reigns of Solomon and Rehoboam. The people once aroused to a contraversed was absolutely uninhabited. sciousness that their property was being taken from them, and The new premier of Greece says that his people want to be the normal fruits of their labors devoted to unnecessary public qneighbors to all the surrounding nations. Now the question is, uses, sounded the knell of doom for public officials who had what kind of neighbors? brought to pass such a deplorable fiscal and uneconomic situation. And so there is a lesson for public officials in the First IN MEMORIAM. Book of Kings. James B. Miller, who for many years was upon the repor-toriUNSEEN TAXES staff of the Salt Lake Tribune, was suddenly called from this life after a short illness. In discussing the tax question, Henry M. Hyde, in the Baltimore He was considered one of the best writers of the city, and during his newspaper career has held various positions on the Sun, comments on unseen taxes. Taxes you pay without knowing it. paper from copy reader to telegraph editor and from reporter Real taxes just the same. to critic. He was a faithful employe and was always on the job, He then points to the gas, street railway and telephone comas the saying is, and was not only a good fellow, but had and panies in Baltimore to illustrate indirect taxes paid by the people. made many friends. Everything has grown much larger since 1915, but how do the taxes paid in 1915 compare with the net earnings in that year? How He-hoboa- m al SPECIAL PRIVILEGES securities are increasing at the rate of almost one hundred million dollars a month. The United States Treasury Department recently estimated that the total of wholly securities, held outside of treasuries and sinking funds, had reached $14,384,000,000, more than 11 billion dollars of which had been issued by states, counties and cities. In other words, that much wealth is exempt from paying any taxes on its Tax-exem- pt tax-exem- pt income. The common people are now held up for taxes, unjustly distributed among them, while those reeking with wealth sink their money into exempt securities. Surely such an unfair and discriminatory system cannot much longer exist in this land where the people are supposed to have a voice in the government. The California Tax Digest, published monthly under the direction of Dr. Milbank Johnson in the interest of taxpayers, in its May issue, contains a remarkable article by James Gregory, a Tacoma, Washington, manufacturer. The article is entitled, As a preface, How the Kingdom of Irsael was Wrecked. r. Johnson says: History reveals the downfall of all governments in the past has been preceded by an era of excessive taxation; people have toiled long ages under insult, oppression and the burden of special privileges ; but whenever taxation has become so extortionate as to take from them the natural fruits of their own labor, they have eventually risen and spoken their minds in no uncertain terms. In succeeding paragraphs, Mr. Gregory says : Solomon was crowned king of Israel in 1015 B. C. His reign was characterized by exceeding brilliancy and great building enterprises. He laid upon the people a very heavy burden of (taxation tribute it was called in those days. In 975 B. C. his son, Relioboam, ascended tho throne. The continuance by Relioboam of excessive and even increased taxation wrecked the government. Mr. Gregorys article quotes the Bible, showing the activities carried on by Solomon, and the immense amount of the peo do they compare in 1925? Are the various governmental activities you support taking more out of your street car fare, your gas bill and your telephone bill? Where $1 of your gas money went to the government ten years ago, $3 goes now. The taxes paid by the gas company in 1915 were 17 per cent of its net earnings, last year they had risen to 21 per cent. In 1915, the street car company paid in taxes 20 per cent of its net income. In 1925, the per centage had risen to 28 per cent. Apparently the telephone company has fared worst of all so far as increase in taxes is concerned. In 1925, it paid to the state, and its subdivisions in taxes of all kinds, $296,153. Last year these taxes had jumped to $788,476. Ten years ago it paid to the national government only $4,210, while in 1925, its federal taxes were $258,683. Its net income ten years ago was $689,070, and in 1925, it had risen to $1,982,005. It will be noted that the taxes in 1925 amounted to more than half the net income. It might be well to add that the people are gradually becoming aware of the fact that such taxes are really an indirect form of taxation upon the users of the services of the companies assessed and that it is a thoughtless and mistaken policy to go after such companies as though they had an inexhaustible pocketbook on which to draw. All indirect and special taxes loaded upon such big companies and like services or commodities are paid by the people, even though the proponents of special taxation measures too often endeavor to make the public think that it can escape this tax bill by passing it over to The situation recorded in Baltimore is a fair the other fellow. criterion of tax conditions throughout the country. THAT WATCHFUL WAITING I am General Leonard A. Wood said in a recent statement: perfectly confident that rubber can be as successfully grown in the Philippines as cocoanuts and will greatly benefit the people. There is no reason to believe Philippine farmers cannot grow it as profitably and successfully as the natives of Sumatra and Borneo. It would be a fine thing if Uncle Sam could develop his own rubber plantations in the Philippines and so protect us from the great |