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Show EASY MONEY. In the minds of many people, H. F. C. is a synonym for easy money. With our backs turned to the wall financially, finan-cially, we are willing to accept help from any source and, too often, under un-der any conditions that may be imposed. im-posed. We do not hesitate to put our names on the dotted line without even reading the terms of the agreement. agree-ment. It is both tragic and ludicrous to note the purposes for which some of this "easy money" is requested. Communities Com-munities that are loaded to the guards with present debts and who are increasing in-creasing their tax delinquency year by year are joining the long line of borrowers. bor-rowers. They do not seem concerned about the terms of the loan. All they want to do is to get the. money now and let the future take care of itself. But there is a day coming when all this money must be paid back, unless, un-less, of course, generous, free-hearted Uncle Sam agrees to forget it. But ,evcn in that case, he will come back at us in a round-about way through the processes of indirect taxation and collect every cent, because Uncle Sam doesn't own a thing himself. His only source of revenue is what he gets from taxpayers. All he spends is what ho collects from the taxpayers. If the taxpayers have no money, Uncle Sam is broke. When the taxpayers are in their heyday of prosperity, Uncle Sam's treasury is full. No taxing unit in this state should delude itself into the belief that the money which is being obtained in the form of loans must not ultimately be paid the principal, plus interest. There may be certain schemes and projects that are self-liquidating and that are ahsolutely necessary and upon up-on which the community can justifiably justifi-ably ask for a loan. But we should be sure in advance of making the loan that the projects we have in mind are not going to be disappointing to us as revenue producers. In addition to all our other tax burdens, bur-dens, these new loans constitute an additional obligation, a lien upon the same property which we now claim is taxed beyond our ability to pay. To the taxpayer there is no "easy money." It's all hard-earned money hard to get and very difficult to pay back. It will require a supreme quality of self-denial on our part to resist the temptation to borrow in order to tide over the present emergency. But surely the experiences of the past have taught us how seriously we will imperil im-peril our own security if we indulge in loose borrowing, without remembering remember-ing that the day will come when we must pay the debt to the last farthing. far-thing. Taxpayers collectively should not indulge in questionable practices which they, as individuals, denounce and avoid. Utah Taxpayer. |