Show Many Tax Laws Suggested r j 11 To Get Nervous Dollars k Compulsory Savings Personal Excess In- In Income Income come Tax Spending Levy Found Unpopular Unpopular lar or Unwieldy Orthodox Bill Seen By BAUKHAGE 1 hews ew Analyst and Commentator YOUR TAX TAX- AND DOLLAR BOND HOW THE GOVERNMENT SPENDS IT FIrst Half of 1943 0 te A Ow M wish J A p M e lIt ut L eee co i an n rA mi Ji u c 5 Au e a end ond equipment and nd personal equipment and other ex expenses P Pay y ence travel for or armed forces and nd ns agricultural bes for lor export end nd n expenses Dato Service Union Trust Building Washington D C CAs CAs As far bath back as bIblIcal da- da days das s the tax collector was as an unpopular per person person son Today you don t see the tax col collector collector lector but you ou know who writes the tax laws and the folks who vho do con congress congress gress lead a roost most unhappy l life e especIally In an election year such as we e are approaching The complicated problem they face can be supply SImply stated think it over and figure out what you would do if you had to write a tax law The problem IS this how to collect the roost most dollars and lose the last votes Soak the rich Well they have havethe havethe the money rooney and It hurts them thero the least but unfortunately there are not enough of them thero to soak It is too bad because they are so few m in number that their votes don t mat roat matter ter so 50 much Only 46 people or approXImately one eIght hundredth of 01 those WIth incomes earn over 10 a year Tax the rest That will bring In Inthe inthe the bIggest total but they are the ones with the votes The PresIdent says we need billion dollars to run the war this year The treasury says that out of 01 every dollar collected 90 cents goes to pay the war bills So there have been a number of 01 schemes concocted which are aImed at getting the nervous dollars the ones roost most lIkely to create Inflation Presumably they are the dollars that belong to the people who are now getting a lot more money rooney than they did before the ar It would be Just to take the excess profits to pay for the war especIally because the people who ho are getting a lot more than they are used to are the ones who spend most freely So compulsory savings has been ted That Is making Uncle I ISam Sam collect a part of everybody s 8 Income which would be returned after the war Then there Is a scheme to tax spending In other words tax the dollars whIch are spent on extras dollars tha that get back Into circulation and push up the inflation spIral o Tot the dollars that go into homes or life Insurance or paying old debts but the dollars that romp for more clothes than you need to wear more food and drink than you need to absorb more gadgets than you ought to get along with In wartime Then there is another the tax personal excess Income tax That Is a tax on the amount of money rooney that you are receiving now that you t receiving before the war Lacking Popularity None of these methods Is popular There is a sentim obJect on to compulsory savings It smacks ac according according cording to Its opponents too much of totalitarianism of an interference ence with the individuals indIvidual s personal habits The PresIdent Is opposed to and It-and ws his wife we agrees WIth him him- the treasury Is opposed to It I IThe The spending tax taC is saId to be too complicated and likewise lIke appears to tobe tobe be unpopular wIth the treasury Then there Is thus personal excess Income tau taC of which you will soon be hearing more The chief obJect t on to that tax seems to be that It Itis itis is too hard to work out that It Is too hard to make it lust Just and fair Even the NazIs who trIed it gave it up after about a year s trial When the personal excess income tax comes up you will hear many I arguments against it it Like many of these other methods it requires the establIshment of what IS called a base period to lash a comparIson That IS some period of tune time during which the amount earned by the individual is isI I taken as a base Then what he IS making now IS compared with that base and the difference taxed But that IS a pretty hard thing to work out because so many adJust adJust- adjustments ments would have to be made for specIal cases that the government would never be able to examine each case and pass on It faIrly Take the young doctor The year before the war he may roay have been graduated from medical school Probably he had lIttle or no income then Then he beg ns to practice and m in wartime doctors are In de demand demand mand He may roay have made a faIr I faIrI Income thIS year Would it be faIr to taY taC the excess If It were the dif difference ference between this year s earning and the base period when he was earning noth ng at all Too Many Inequities Then there are many men who ho hoare are getting more money rooney now be because because cause they work longer hours or have receIved Just and deserved pro pro- root mot all ons-all these things immedi immediately come into the p when you begin to stra out the mequI tIes when you really try to tax a aJust ajust Just percentage of ofa a man s income And so the predIct ons whIch are being made In Washington now are aretha tha that t the next tax bill will be a pretty orthodox affaIr it will SImply have about the same kind of exemptions thins a little higher percentage tax tax and will be rushed through at the thelast thelast last minute after afler as many members of congress have obJected to the clauses wh ch they think will be un unpopular unpopular popular WIth their thell constituents The government needs the money an and 1 needs it quickly The people don t twant twant want to be taxed any more than can be helped and the congressmen w will lean over backwards trying to please the people Meanwhile the treasury tells us that most of the money rooney which is be being being ing earned due to the great tin In Increase crease in product on caused by the war IS going to people whose In Incomes incomes comes are less than 5 S a year year- year seven e a of It So at least seven eighths of the taxes ought to come from that group |