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Show FHHCUL OUTLOOK CAUSES PESSIMISM Startling Figures Given Out by German Newspaper on Cost of War FUTURE IS DISCUSSED Estimated That Total Cost of the War Will Be $8,000,000,000 Special Cable to The Tribune BERLIN March 4 The financ al ouJook is troubling the m nds of those who have the courage to look squarely into the face of the future It is e g nificant that the papers of Frankfort home of the German Kothschild3 and financial center of Germany are the first ones to depict the future in a pess miotic 1 ght The Frankfurter Nachr chten recently made the alarm ng statement that the costs of the war have now reached an amount equal to the aggregate fortunes of all the mill ona res of Germany and that the annual taxat on wh ch must be Imposed in order to fulfill all obliga tions equals the total incon e of all Ger mans whose annual income is $4000 or over This means that even if taxes amounting to 20 per cent of income be imposed upon the wealthy classes the masses of the people must st 11 be burdened with four fifths of the h ge amount which must be raised annually merely in order to pay the interest and make partial payments on the war debts of the empire Goes Into Detail The Frankfurter Nachnchtea puts forward the following The to al cost of the war and the amount absolute y needed to hea the wounds caused by the war wi reach between 40 000 000 000 and 50 000 000 00O marks (?8 000 000 000 to $10 000 000 000) correspond ng to an annual Inte es of between 2 000 00O 000 and 2 600 000 000 ma ks ((400 000 000 to X 000 000) The lnd v dual s ates Vnd munlc pal t es t hus be sad d ad wl h an add onal ax burden of at least S 600 000 000 ($700 000 000) buf the amount mav reach even 4 O00 000 00O marka $S00 000 000) XIn t me of peace the tota amount of ses ra sed throughout the emp re had reached an amount of $420 000 000 Of this amount $340 000 000 was spent on the army and navy whl e about $40 000 000 was requ red to pay inter est on the natlona debt. Looking to Future Supposing these expenses to re ma n unchanged after the war the empire In the future w 1 have to pay out annua y about $800 000 000 or a to a expend ture of approx mate y $1 400 000 000 No ma ter how th s gi gantlo amount be ra sed the bu den v 11 rest very hea y on the shoul de s of the taxpaye s Unt 1 the war came the aggre ga e e pend tures of the lnd v dual states were h gher than those of the emp re and had peace cont nued the amounts wou d gradua y have be come equal In the future as c rcum stances now a e the tota expendl ture due to the war of the emp re wi be at east two and a ha f t mes as large as the aggregate expend tu es of the lnd v dua s ates In other words in order to pay her In debtedness In fu and fu f 1 a 1 her obi gat ons Germany must annually ra se and pay out $1 600 000 000 The Frankfurter Isachr chten attacks the atten pt being made to form a po ht ea block on the quest on of tax ation and ma ntains that the pol t cal prudence b ds that a way be kept open for the co operation of the Socialists Disturbing Problem This d iturb ng f nanc al problem fortunately, however need not be tackled r ght awaj though it will con tinue to hang 1 ke the s ord of Dam odes suspended over the heads of Ger many s statesmen and f nanc era The war and all expenses flowing from it are kept ent rely separate from the or d nary budget and are pa d for out of the great war loans wh ch at least tern porarily keep off the weight of the burden What is far more embarrassing be svcause it has to be faced and overcome ""Sswed ately is the fact that it has not beeVjposs ble to make the annual budget balan e pnnc pally because a number of revenues such as customs dut es have disappeared during the war Jsew Taxes Imposed K number of the states have, as a matter of fact already imposed new taTce' and those that have not must fol low in quick success on as must also the various inunicipalit es and as the amounts to be raised are qu te large the grumbling of the people is growing louder To take an example the defie t to be co ered on the oudftet of Prussia this year reaches an amount of $20, 000 000 h ch v 11 be raised through an increased tax on property and n ome But to this amount must bo added an eq al amount vhich must be raised by the mun c pal ties wh ch means that the inhabitants of the king dom of Pruss a th s year n ust Pav 4 ) 000 000 more n taxes than last ear Tseeds of Empire Itself Finally the German emp re tself in the fiscal vear of 1916 191 nil need between $! 000 000 and $100 000 000 more than lat year and th s amount cannot be ra sed thro eh the add t onal tax upon incomes wh ch does not come into force for another year It will therefore be ne essary to raise this monev through nd rect taxes The add t onal taxes to be mposed h ea ta e n pe al and mnn c n h i f-l rci h at ast 0 00 a 1 p ha s e en 0 0 q te a 1e f om nte e s t nd amo zat on n he ar appropna t ons or S 0 0 00 000 |