OCR Text |
Show THE ETERNAL TAX QUESTION . A dlscustlon of tax exempt bond Issues will undoubtedly drelhij at this session of congress. The question ques-tion will bo brought (o an isshe by the present tax exemption feature of fatm loan bonds. While 'the $333,784,000 of tax exempt ex-empt federal land hank bonds thus far Issued Is not large conrpared to some $36,000,000000 In government securities outstanding either totally lor partially tax exempt, thu ptlnclple Involved in exempting this class of securities Issued Tor private gain, from nil forms of taxation, Is the ock on which the whole theory or tax exemption is likely to be spin wide open. ' Tho fight is not against the faun I loan act or the Idea of the govern- jment assisting In securing cheap money for the farmers. thH can he done without tax exemption. The objection Is to making the general (taxpayer cany the burden of any special class of citizens through any form of lax exemption. There fs no logical reason why the lino should bo drawn between one class of borrowers enjoying the privilege priv-ilege of cheap money and another now deprived bV. It. . The indefinite extension of tax exemption and compfeto sociullzutlon of tho economfc life of thu country, go hand In hand, and yet they seem Inevitable unless thu lino Is drawn against all exemptions. Tax exemption of securities virtually vir-tually amounts to transferring tho .entire burdon of taxation to real pro-'pcrty pro-'pcrty and earned Incomes. |