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Show 1 Washington Snapshots Bli jcnneA Pl&itot For nigh onto 200 years the United States has stood before the world as the land of opportunity , where any man with faith in himself him-self and willingness to take a chance can carve out his own fu- 1 ture. It's a land where a man gets an idea, makes plans, takes a chance and works to build a business. As recently as the 1920's when taxes were low, starting a small 1 business was relatively easy for enterprising young Americans with courage and incentive to work. Today, however, high tax rates make building a new business busi-ness a tough, impossible job. i In a midwest city recently two returned veterans made plans to go into business together. Each ' had accumulated savings to invest. ! They had a good product, and a market for it. If the venture . panned out, the prospective part-1 ners figured they would clear $10,-000 $10,-000 the first year. Then they , learned about the third "partner" the tax collector. They discovered they would not only have to pay the Federal government gov-ernment $2200 in corporation tax-1 es, but also personal income taxes 1 on their individual shares of the remaining $7600. I The veterans realized, too, that they would bear the loss if the venture failed, and that high taxes would leave little profit if it succeeded. suc-ceeded. The risk wasn't worth the candle, and they went to work for someone else. The decision of the two vcter-1 ans is being duplicated all over the country. People are disheart- j ened by the absence of thrift in government which results in high taxes. They hesitate to hang out their shingle, to start a business, big or small. 1 All over the country exorbitant! taxation Federal, State and local is siphoning off capital savings S-whieh normally should flow into private business. This means fewer businesses and a drying up of job opportunities. Congresmen who profess concern con-cern for "little business" might well ponder the case of the two veterans. |