Show washington digest knew taxes sure to come senator harrison Harri sou warns lenother lA another nother federal Fei leral deficit of four billion dollars faces country new sources of revenue sought more persons to be hit by WILLIAM BRUC BRUCKART KAff service national press bide washington D C washington it requires a considerable amount of courage for an an active politician to talk about more taxes in an election year and it is a hopeful sign when one tells the truth about such a politically delicate matter when sen pat harrison the veteran mississippi democrat announced the other day that new taxes are coming therefore it became a matter 0 of f moment it was significant first that senator harrison speaking as chairman of the powerful senate finance committee should boldly say there must be new taxes and it was significant ant in the second place because senator harrison has not always stood shoulder to shoulder with the new dealers but there is another federal treasury deficit of something ue like staring us as in th tb eface and the size of it indicates that no progress has been made whatsoever in curtailing federal spending it tells us too that the much ballyhooed ballyhoo ed business recovery of a year ago Is yielding less in taxes than had bad been calculated by the wishful thinkers thirdly the probable deficit teems seems to show there was at least tome some merit in the assertions by senator harrison and others in congress last winter that some of the new deal policies are driving the coun country try further into a hole instead of bringing it out senator harrisons state statements ments constitute a warning that federal taxes must dig deeper in effect e he told the country that the government has been taxing to the point where it can not expect any in increased returns from the present sources however heavy the levies and that the scope of taxes must be extended and expanded more alore persons to be hit by federal taxes what does that mean simply sim ply it means that in any new tax laws that are enacted congress will include a greater number of persons within the realm of federal tax sources people who never have paid taxes to the federal government before are going to pay them hereafter I 1 am referring to income taxes directly but the way the picture looks to me there will be more taxes that are indirect and they hit hh everybody if congress extend the scope of federal taxation there will never be any chance of a balanced budget and if the future does not bring forth a balanced budget we may as well kiss our democratic form of gover government ariment goodby good by the reason I 1 say there must be additional hidden taxes levies that are included in the cost to the consumer such as the cigarette tax is that senator harrisons own statement shows there will be insufficient revenue raised by lowering the personal exemptions under the income tax laws or by making the tax heavier on those of say annual income and above there can not be any very large addition to the revenue gained in that field for the very good and sufficient reason that there are not enough of those taxpayers bureau of internal revenue statistics prove that about 60 per cent of the count rys income earners have less than 2000 per family As the laws now stand a person who is married and has an income of 2000 or less need pay no tax so it is seen that only a mere drop in the bucket of new revenue can be obtained in that direction wholly because it if all of them were taxed the amount still would be small yet any serious attempt to raise revenue to balance federal expenses must include levies on the lower incomes as well as other new taxes that apply generally to search for new A eio tax possibilities senator harrisons committee will search through all of the various tax possibilities in the next three or tour four months it will have to do that the house committee on ways and means which considers tax legislation in the house will not have the courage to go as far in adding to the tax burden it never has had that much courage for the reason that its members come up for election every two years ye arsand and again taxes are unpopular things for a politician it thus we will have to look to the harrison committee if progress is made in bringing the nations tax receipts into some relation with its spending the addition of new taxes is a serious matter yet it appears that new taxes cannot be avoided we have had our play time our fun we have danced now the fiddler must be paid when new taxes are added the buying power of every person paying the tax is reduced by that amount but through live five years money has been spent by the government in ways that put to shame the famed drunken sailor ashore for the first time in a year waste wreckage nitwit nit wit plans and programs all have cost billions of dollars As everyone knows when new taxes are added a greater percentage of the count rys voting inhabitants are included so maybe the veteran senator harrison has a twofold two fold purpose in mind and it takes courage for him to have either cither one of the two ideas because he is in politics maybe he sees the necessity for substantial curtailment of federal sr spending ending and realizes at the same time that the life of a politician who opposes spending is a hard road but if the average citizen is touched by some new taxes he will not be half as anxious to support the candidate who promises pork projects and patronage anything that sends money back into the h home ce me district I 1 would just hazard a guess that the amiable and very clever senator harrison is going about the latter job in the only way that it can be accomplished I 1 give him praise and wish him success for preservation of our government is of considerably more moment than a few political lives this Is no joke johe to bankers of country some time ago I 1 reported the existence within administration policies of quite contradictory plans here is a new one and one that to me is quite laughable it probably is not at all humorous to the bankers of the country whether they be big bankers or little bankers in small towns of course bankers do not always have a sense of humor nevertheless I 1 believe they may be forgiven for failing to laugh at this new condition to have a clear understanding of the circumstance it is necessary to line up the several developments in the order of their appearance as government or administration policy first it will be remembered how president roosevelt ordered all banks closed and some stayed closed at the beginning of his administration he followed that with legislation by congress that placed new restrictions on how the banks could loan money it was a pretty good law since it prevented some sharp practices of which some bankers had been guilty on top of this law some 10 or 12 months later mr roosevelt lam basted the bankers for not making loans to business he charged them with locking their vaults called them cowards and whatnot what not S trying to force money out into the channels of trade when there were few business men doing enough business to pay interest on the money they were using then the urge came for deposit insurance mr roosevelt roosevelt was not enthusiastic about any federal deposit insurance scheme but senator michigan republican had developed a terrible desire to have it he forced it through congress and mr roosevelt signed the bill I 1 think the time will come when the country will regret that law but that is neither here nor there it is on the statute books I 1 and the federal deposit insurance i corporation has a function to see that banks are properly run another depression was the result there came the time when mr Roosevel ts policies failed to work any better than those under president hoover and we had another depression on our hands mr jesse jones chairman of the reconstruction finance corporation either of his own volition or by white house urging made several speeches and statements to the bankers as the depression 1 got really bad ile he sought to stem the tide by persuading the bankers to make more loans some of us here got the impression that mr jones wanted the bankers to shove out the money and ask later on whether hether they could get it back anyway the sum and substance of I 1 the situation was that mr jones was urging the banks to find ways to loan money then came the climax the peak and the laugh hardly had mr jones concluded his series of lec tuxes to the bankers who according to the jones picture really did 1 not want to make money when another government agency gets into the play the federal deposit insurance corporation had something to say about the bankers and chairman crowley issued a statement to all and sundry bankers said mr crowley in sub substance stance bankers the insures your deposits up to per depositor thus they are protected but that does not mean you can take a chance on unsound loans you cant take any greater risk than you would it if there was no insurance of the deposits just remember that boys be careful and dont stub your 0 western newspaper union |