Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington administration leaders in congress are prepared to oppose any addition to the tax fight r fant burden of the coun added taxes try through the action of the next session although the white house has made no nubile pronouncement it Is the understanding that the leaders in the senate and the house who have taken unequivocal positions against a tax increase in 1915 were reflecting the view they had obtained from president roosevelt in addition to their own conviction that this Is a bad time to increase the levies which individuals and business interests oust must pay for the upkeep of the government during the current weeks there has developed some indication if indeed it Is not an assurance that there will be curtailment of federal expenditures just how this is got going D g to be accomplished Is not yet clear but it can be stated on highest authority that a curtailment tail ment of the outgo from the treasury Is expected to be accomplished in making that statement I 1 think I 1 ought to add that the curtailment la Is contemplated with respect to emergency agencies and does not include any of the various new proposals from segments of house or senate membership involving additional heavy outlays As an example of this type of expenditure I 1 refer to the proposal for immediate payment of the soldiers bonus that there Is a strong demand for this action there can be no doubt yet on the other hand there Is bitter oppose tion both in congress and among ad ministration leaders to the program that would entail payment of something like two billion dollars to the former soldiers sailors and marines of world war days the question of taxation always Is of an explosive character hence the urge on the part of some of the new dealers for an increase in taxation so si that emergency spending might be made to appear more in line with government income has precipitated an issue very quickly the proposition had bad hardly begun to gain momentum when nhen senator robinson of arkansas the democratic floor leader of the senate and senator harrison arrison II of mississippi chairman of the senate committee on finance both were called to warm springs ga for a confer conference epee with mr roosevelt it was said at that con ference that taxation was not the on only IV thing discussed but nevertheless both leaders came away from the temporary white house with the announcement that there would be no tax boost in the 1935 1915 session of congress simultaneously representative mil hill democrat of washington chairman of a subcommittee of the house ways and means committee made known his opposition to a tax boost mr mils hills com coin has devoted demoted its attention to a survey of tax rates and revenue re quire ments and has reached the conclusion that to increase the levies now would be to retard recovery as a result of additional imposts on business the washington representative feels that the present tax structure will function properly and provide sufficient revenue just fig as soon ns as there Is a return of something approaching normal commercial mercial activity ile fie thinks there might he be some simplification of the laws applying to the various forms of federal taxation but he be considers them adequate as revenue producers if and when there Is a normal volume of business in this connection it seems advisable to recall that secretary of the treasury sent a freshman team of brain tr usters to england last summer to study the british tax system while this committees findings and recommendations to the secretary have not been made public insiders tell me that the results of that loverti investigation added very little to the sum total 71 of knowledge concerning our own problem mr hill in discussing the governments benti financial condition gave it as his opinion that we not so bad are not in such bad financially FInan dally shape now ills his statement referred to an approximate balance between receipts and what the administration calls ordinary expenditures these expenditures tures go for support of the re regular u government establishment and no part of them Is used la in maintenance of recovery operations such as the agricultural ri adjustment administration the public works administration or the reconstruction nuance finance corporation the funds used by these alphabetical I 1 1 agen agencies afes come from the sale of bonds it Is borrowed money and sometime must be paid back mr assumed these repayments were not tie necessary to be considered at this time ile fie was concerned solely with having the ordinary expenses covered by the regular annual receipts there will be tax legislation in the forthcoming session that Is necessary its character however hoever will be limited under present plans to considerations made necessary by expiration of certain present statutes the emergency brought the necessity for e enactment of various nuisance cul nance and excise taxes I 1 such as the tax on cheeks checks and gasoline and numerous others their expiration pi pir ration atlon date wits was fixed filed in the statute as 0 of f july 1 1935 1035 these exist be continued they have been producing something like f four out hundred and twenty million dollars dollar annually a good sized chunk of revenue in language it Is planned therefore to renew these there may I 1 be some revision and some change in the bases but the principles involved in those levies seem certain to be continued enactment reenactment re ite of these statutes Is not expected to have a material effect on business because business has become adjusted to them I 1 am informed by business experts that undoubtedly business would move forward more rapidly it if these taxes could be eliminated since that is not to be business Is hoping if not demanding that the tax burden upon it be held within the pre present S confines in order that it may not be under any further handicap while searching for a solid foundation upon which to cx expand and president roosevelt and his big emer 1 gency administrators believe they have I 1 hit upon a new and i money for productive plan to the needy give money out to those who need it they are arc about to embark upon a program of encouraging personal loans loans by banks to individual men and women and to guarantee repayment ot of a portion of each loan made it Is viewed as exceedingly In interns teresi ing that a national government or any other governmental agency for that matter should embark on such a policy because there are those atho ho hold it to be a dangerous precedent I 1 have done considerable research work regarding this proposal and I 1 have failed to find i in the records any such move in the history of important nations of the world it Is therefore undoubtedly one of the most highly experimental steps yet taken in this maelstrom of recovery plans announcement of the scheme was made by james A monet moffet federal housing administrator who described it as marking a new era in american business it Is true that there are certain types of banking institutions that have made individual or so palled character loans where no collateral security was offered by the borrower tin and where only the good name and the record of the individual warranted ranted extension of this credit i mr air moffet said that this character loan idea would prove to be the very foundation of the home modernization program which he Is administering ile he described the action as al one predicated upon the governments absolute confidence that the average american will keep beep his promise to repay what he borrows nor Is that position as much of a jump in the dark its as it at first may seem sal said mr moffet As usual un uncle cl e sam knows know S wit what a t he Is doing before offering to insure these loans he consulted the count rys records on in installment buying lie ile also asked what had been the experience of the few banks who up to last spring had made character loans from F rom the banks and from commercial organizations lations selling on the installment plan he learned that the average american Is honest tin and that the loss from ch character arneter loans was just a little more than three fourths of 1 per cent it la Is not the fact that the government found the average amer american in to be honest however that Is exciting comment among washington observers eavers tt it Is that the government Is encouraging loans to individuals some of whom horn obviously will suffer the ordinary fate and be unable to repay them 0 0 0 it Is now believed that the world court issue will be settled definitely early in 1 the next dext world court session of congress issue the foreign relations committee ot of the senate which must pass on such treaties has fins an agree agreement mAt to send the resolution of united states adherence terence af to the world court to the senate early in january and according to present indications the on can easily muster enough votes to adopt that resolution pressure for american affiliation with the court Is stronger now than it ever has been before because of tire the disturbed world political situation the breakdown of tile the naval limitations treaties rind and the tendency am among ng nations ifor to split up into groups for arrangement ran gement of a balance of power observers here tillie take the position that american adherence to the world court woold have far greater significance throughout the world now than it would have hild had earlier because of the revival of discussion as to whether the united states should enter the league of nations it will be rt recalled called that president wilsons Wll Wil sons proposal to join tile the league of nations precipitated one of the most bitter controversies in which the senate has ever been engaged it subsequently rejected the plan find and little more has been heard of it until this fall and early winter now there Is what appears to be a determined movement on foot for the tha united states to join the league and anci some of the proponents of american adherence to the world court believe that it a vote to join the world court will carry the united states ono one step nearer to affiliation with the league itself J a neatom eniar |