Show internal revenue EE problem income tax spectre haunts next session of congress by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington it is a cloudy fall day and the last tattered brown leaves are fluttering nervously on otherwise bare branches wondering whether it is better to make the plunge now or wait for more favorable breezes about the same thing Is going on in an old colonial mansion on con avenue where beneath those high ceilings and once aristocratic surroundings republican national committee typewriters are clicking mimeographing machines are whirring and sweet telephone bells jangle out ot of tune 0 party leaders like the uncertain leaves are wondering whether the twice vetoed tax bill carefully re upholstered and furnished with what they hope in non equipment will bring in the votes this time tame down the block and across the street in an office building where the plaster on the walls Is hardly dry sit their op members of the democrat ic jc national corn coin cittee in their brand new they are hopefully p r e dieting that any effort to make this tax deduc tion bill a law when the world is trembling on the edge of dis aster will boom baukhage erang democrats say that ri if a tax tagre re bill should pass is vetoed and the veto overridden what it does for the folks with over 5 income a year will be balanced off by what it doesn doean t do for the folks below that income bracket you remember the original bill 11 R 1 the first bill into the house hopper january 3 1947 at that time democrats la belled it the 10 20 30 bill claimed it would save the man with two dependents and a year income only 59 cents a week while it would save the man with a yearly in come a week but that tax reduction b 11 and a later one substantially the same were squashed by presidential veto and congress upheld the veto but now the possibility of something new and very attractive has been added A community property tax provision for every taxpayer briefly this means that a husband and wife may divide their income into two equal parts computing the tax on each of those parts and mul ti plying by two this naturally cuts the total amount of tax to be paid under present tax schedules for ex ample the tax on two joint incomes of 50 each comes to less than the tax on a net income be cause of the steeply g sur tax rates GOP confident of bills hills passage thirteen states oregon wash ington california new mex co arizona nevada idaho texas ok lahoma louisiana nebraska mich igan and pen pennsylvania sylvania already have community community property tax pro i 4 visions so has hawaii the pro vision if inserted in a federal tax bill would put citizens of the other 35 states on the same basis the money savings under the j community property tax clause i would not benefit those marr ed cou j pies whose combined net income is less than 3 because th the e rates don t change up to that point that Is why opponents say this comma anity property tax proposal too is aimed at saving money for the ba big 9 ger taxpayers and doesn doean t help out the little fellows although the tax i advisor to the ways and means corn coin t cittee tells me that neither would any benefits accrue under this pro vision to the married couple whose comb ned income is a a u year aw but the republicans eel feel sure F that this proposal would carry a tax reducing bill through they claim many democrats living in states contiguous to the con coin property tax states would support it here s the way democrats view the s tuition they know that the last tax bill might have been passed over the veto some say it certa aly could have been passed had it included k the community property tax provi sion they are not flippant about the republicans abil ty to muster the necessary two thirds vote this time to override a veto but democrats nourish this hope that if 11 tax debate Is insisted upon before the question of lower prices and european aid including the long range marshall plan as well as emergency aid is settled the public will say republicans are fiddling with pol tics while europe byrns and will reaud ate those republic ans at the polls even if U a tax bill should surmount the veto hurdle democrats st at U 11 hope it will boomerang on the fa argument mentioned earlier that it gives uncommonly little to the common man and is balm bahn ol 01 gilead tor for the high brackets republicans counter with the assertion that tax relief is a cry ing need they feel americans will not be too angry it if their financial load is lightened at the expense of europe provided that emergency relief is voted and perhaps a marshall plan accepted in principle but consid drably shaved down as to the actually authorized you may have read the report taxes and the budget a program for prosperity in a free economy a document issued by the non parti san non nonprofit profit committee for eco development this group em ploys a large staff of experts who study governmental problems and report on them at frequent inter vals there is much in this latest report to give aid and comfort to the tax reduction school but it also contains the warning that it is not feces sary or des desirable frable to make final decisions about 1948 tax policies at this time it will be necessary early next year at that time it will be possible to get a clearer picture of the expenditure outlook ahead and of the degree of inflationary pres sure which then exists but the question of inflation ary pressure and how to ease it I 1 is already a highly political one both parties realize that they have to grab the reins it if they are going to get credit tor for guiding the country out of a boom bust cycle bi st partisanship apple cart tipped Tip pede when president truman revealed the fact that he intended to use the emergency session of congress con ven ng november 11 1 not merely to aid to europe but also to ponder a program for lowered prices it upset the apple cart as one republican said to me an agreement had been reached to give priority to aid to r europe senator taft boss of the republican policy committee imme made the reassuring s state t a t e ment that he felt the question of emergency aid and possible L nary legislation on the marshall plan taft could and would be satisfactorily taken care ot of by december 19 he didn dian t say what else it if anything he had in m nd for the boys on the hill to handle but he did assure them they would be home well before belore the christmas holidays then came the truman announce ment that efforts to check inflation would be cons dered on a par with the aid to europe plan he said the two were closely interwoven be cause if the dollar continued to shrink the purchases of es couldn coulden t be stretched to meet the need after that taft lost little time in tossing any implied fan partisan bipartisan pro gram for the congressional session to the winds if truman was to in elude clude cons aeration de ration of a domestic economy program all bets were ere off oft all of the policies of the pres ent adm ni said senator taft were so bad he couldn coulden t go along with them and so the partisan bipartisan apple cart was upset what is going to happen Is decidedly hazy at this writing |