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Show National Topics Interpreted JL 1 fe ' by William Bruckart ds3fH a tax rate so low will make whisky cheap and bootleggers cannot compete. com-pete. If they are once driven out, this school of thought contends, they will have great difficulty In getting 6tarted again. I have been unable to obtain any accurate measurement measure-ment of the strength behind this movement, but there Is no doubt that it Is finding favor. As to the local option problem, Washington observers are able only to guess that there will be many heated fights In numerous communities communi-ties throughout the country. People always have fought over the prohibition pro-hibition question since It has been an Issue, and they will argue about it now In many areas that otherwise other-wise are noted for their peaceful peace-ful atmosphere where politics are taken usually in smaller doses. There seems to be assurance here of a continuing problem resulting from one community being wet and Its next-door community being dry, and vice versa. Such a condition Is conducive to enforcement difficulties, difficul-ties, and there are obvious enmities as a consequence. Washington. When the Eight-1 tenth amendment to the Federal Constitution be-New be-New Source came a matter of of Revenue Mstoi the otter day, I took occasion occa-sion to look up some old records about the consumption of liquor in ( the days gone by. Ono of the things I found was that 1914 was the record rec-ord year and that in those twelve months our nation, then consisting of approximately 100,000,000, had disposed of almost 800,000,000 gallons gal-lons of whiskys, wines and other liquors and beer, that slightly more than S0,000,000 of the total was In whisky. From these statistics, I learned also that the federal government had obtained roughly $430,000,000 in taxes, and that the states, counties coun-ties and municipalities had raised enough additional revenue from liquor and . occupational taxes, such as licenses for saloons, to make the total tribute paid by liquor exceed $1,000,000,000. The taxes in effect were distributed and passed along until the consumers of these beverages bev-erages paid them. There were strong anti-tax fights launched In many places, but the taxes were duly "levied, collected and paid." Plenty of taxes are being levied these days, but collecting them Is a different proposition, because most of our taxes are handled differently different-ly than liquor taxes. To get back to 1914, the consumption" consump-tion" of liquor was accomplished by the people in about nineteen wet states. We have started the new era (which repeal of the Eighteenth amendment must be held to represent) repre-sent) - with twenty-four-states in which liquor sale is legak The federal fed-eral tax rate Is roughly the same as it was twenty years ago, although al-though It has been higher in the .meantime due to war levies. I Although 1934 as a crop season for cotton Is quite some distance off, the Depart-To Depart-To CutCott on ment of Agrlcul- Acreaze ture has besun Acreage seeblng a g r e e- ments with the cotton farmers respecting re-specting the reduction of acreage. Secretary Wallace said he hoped to restrict cotton acreage in 1934 to 25,000,000 acres. That is about 35 per cent below the average acreage of years 1928 to 1932, Inclusive, and the agriculture adjustment administration adminis-tration considers that if. will be a reduction of .sufficient size to maintain prices on a . higher level than the average for the last four years. In addition, the ; farmers who withhold land from production will be paid a maximum of $18 per acre In benefit payments by the Department De-partment of Agriculture. " This money will come from the processing tax, Just as was done In the 1933 crop reduction program. Mere announcement that the program pro-gram of restricted production Is to continue through 1934 would seem to be proof that the parity plan for payments and the federal .control over production has been successful. . Such, however, Is not the case. Moreover, I believe . Secretary Sec-retary Wallace does not feel that the 1933 program has proved more than a demonstration of the pro-, cedure of how to do the job. These farm aid programs obviously take time. One year cannot possibly serve as a measurement As the program goes on, however, and as marketing conditions adjust themselves them-selves to the new setup, the success or failure of the plan will become evident. The rate of $1.10 a gallon on , "hard" liquor will be the rate operative op-erative until congress acts; the tax . of $5 a barrel on beer that was levied when the three-point-two product was legalized early this year compares with $G per barrel in 1914, and there is about the same , relation:, to other taxes of twenty years ago. . So the federal govern-. govern-. . ment and the states, counties and municipalities, are going .to start with a new source of revenue-to relieve other tax sources r that "are heavily burdened. Which is the point to which so much attention has been directed In urging repeal. It Is a matter of governmental policy, of course, as to where funds will be raised-by taxes to defray costs of government. By advocating repeal, those who supported that course have in effect argued for transfer of taxes only from one base to another. But there is a les- . son in It, "as I see the thing. This transfer of tax has been from levies on productive enterprise and commerce com-merce and industry that may be called a necessity back to an item of use In life largely of the character charac-ter of luxury. The same is true of the taxes on tobacco. Tobacco taxes consistently, have yielded about $300,000,000 annually, and yet constant con-stant smokers, of which your correspondent cor-respondent happens to be one, have objected little. The answer seems to lie in the fact that so little Is taken from one person at one time. Since repeal had the support of such a vast portion of the nation's population, one can hardly arrive at any other conclusion than that this method of taxation has their approval. ap-proval. The circumstance has given rise to some conjecture, also, as to whether sales taxes generally might not serve better than such things as Income and property taxes under un-der which human backs are bending. One reason why there ought not be snap judgment taken Is because no one has had No Snap a chance to ar- r..m0r, rive at a fair Judgment of of the processing taxes. We cannot can-not fail to recognize that distribution distribu-tion of $100,000,000 among the growers of a certain crop affords that much return to them, money to spend. On the other hand, the processing tax Is being paid by nearly everyone who buys cotton textiles, and the effect eventually will be felt . What the extent will be, I can discern no way . of forecasting. fore-casting. Suffice it to say that a fraction frac-tion of a cent per yard may be the cause of a change In the volnme of sales of a given cloth. But such a change ordinarily will take place only under normal competitive conditions. con-ditions. We .have not had such conditions since the agricultural ad- Now that repeal has been accomplished accom-plished and - the states and local communities can Important determine their Questions own cursea 1 ' - . dealing with the "lfquor traffic after a lapse since 1919, two other questions are agitating agi-tating everyone who Is Interested In sound government. Each of thera is national in Its scope, but one of them Is wholly local In its application. applica-tion. I refer to the problem of re- vising or re-establishing the tax rates by congress, and the settlement settle-ment of what are distinctly local Issues Is-sues relating to whether there will be sale of liquor and how those shall be handled. As soon as the congress gets back In Washington after January 1, legislation leg-islation will be submitted by the administration to effect permanent control of liquor traffic and lay such I - ..taxes as the legislators think proper prop-er to assess against liquor. This problem sounds simple, but It Is far from it There Is obviously a proper prop-er tax base that will yield the maximum max-imum of revenue and at the same time be low enough to discourage bootlegging activities which necessarily neces-sarily must have a big margin of profit There is at this time considerable support for the idea that the present pres-ent tax rate of $1.10 per gallon will remain unchanged for six months or so. The idea behind this Is that justment administration began to operate. So it Is my conclusion, since the country has embarked upon the policy, hasty judgment ought to be avoided and the return of delicate balances in the economic structure awaited before the allotment allot-ment plans have been wholly discarded dis-carded or completely adopted. Speaker Rainey, the white-haired leader of the house of representatives, representa-tives, Is on record with a declaration declara-tion that the forthcoming session of congress will be rather mild. The veteran legislator maintains there Is not going to be an unusual roaring. roar-ing. He believes congress will enact en-act the newest Ideas of the administration adminis-tration Into law and go home unless un-less some one offers better plans. The speaker, of course, being a stalwart stal-wart follower of President Roosevelt, Roose-velt, thinks there are no better plans than those Mr. Roosevelt will propose. pro-pose. But a few Inquiries have convinced me that the speaker has not taken note of the things going on around him. He did a fairly good job at controlling the house last spring and summer, but much water has gone over the dam since that time and It Is made to appear that Mr. Rainey has overlooked it. I personally have heard two rather distinguished and powerful Individuals predict a hot time In the old town and a long night for the next session. O. 1533, Wcatcrn Newspaper Union. r |
