Show Bruc Bru karts charts washington digest taxes raise needed revenue but are not basically sound only part of money aloney paid by consumers reaches reache S federal treasur treasury y as dealers are forced to collect more alore than taxes levied by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington among the hands on my fathers farm when I 1 was a boy was a big negro named noah he was a good worker and strong as the team of mules that he be claimed and always used noah was a good farm hand but my father could always count upon noah being off of the job two or three days after he was paid his wages each month noah generally called chalk because he was so black would disappear as soon as he got his money and he did not return to work until that money was gone it never seemed to concern noah one ne bit that he was broke and even buy tobacco for his corncob pipe unless somebody gave him money he was that way throughout his life because he said he never brought auttin here and he would take auttin away when he died he really carried out that philosophy of life tor for my father paid his burial expenses I 1 have been thinking of noah and his ideas of living lately because of certain developments of national import his philosophy was recalled especially when president roosevelt asked congress for an increase in taxes to defray the cost of the vast new program of national armament it was recalled again when out of a a clear sky and in the shortest message ever sent to congress in mr Roosevel ts seven years as head of the government the president proposed that congress take a second step in raising taxes he asked for a steeply graduated excess profits tax additional taxation has been needed now I 1 believe anyone who has ever read my columns will agree that I 1 have urged additional taxation constantly on that point I 1 never have wavered it might be supposed then that I 1 would go off of the deep end for the new taxes that however is not the case I 1 find myself willing to support only half of the program for reasons that will be apparent as the situation is analyzed the first tax increase was proper it was needed the second proposal that which congress is yet to consider is not proper but the revenue Is badly needed the difference is that the first program will yield revenue that generally speaking will be received by the treasury in its entirety the second program will yield vast sums and only part of the tax paid by the consumers will reach the treasury it is a strong statement to make when one says that the treasury will get only part of the amount paid by the taxpayers it is true however because in a levy like the excess profits tax every dealer great or small collects more than the amount of the tax we saw it when an excess profits tax was in operation UL during the ule world war of A tax that amounted to halt half a cent cent was paid as one cent for the very simple reason that oi one has some difficulty in cutting a penny into two pieces the seller is is never going to absorb any tax and I 1 think he probably cannot be blamed H he e raises the price to protect krotec t himself and you and I 1 and every mothers son carries the load of tax when it is laid that way the first tax program offered by mr roosevelt was bad enough in that direction on its good side however it can be said that it levied direct taxes on incomes a method by which the tax all of it goes into the treasury that tax bill also extended the income tax to something like additional tax payers by reducing the personal exemption allowed that is to say after july 1 of this year a married person with an income of 2000 a year will pay income tax above that sum and a single person receiving also will pay income tax tor for the first time previously the exemption was 2500 for a married person and 1000 for a single person ten per cent added to regular levy there was included in the taxing act also an increase in taxes from the previous rates it was provided in in the new law that a person receiving 2000 a year for example will pay the old rate of tax and then will add a flat 10 per cent to that total as the amount he must contribute for support of his government and for building a real national defense let me show how this 10 per cent added tax works out as a means of showing why I 1 object to and criticize it the 10 per cent was added to the so called nuisance taxes tax on admissions cigarettes gasoline and a thousand other articles take cigarettes as an example popular brands sold in many places at two for a quarter the new price generally is two for 27 cents but the actual increase in price caused by the tax will be about one and a quarter cents the dealers will get an increase in the price while I 1 say with candor that the dealers get an increase I 1 am not one who is going to criticize them for it I 1 do not see how any individual or firm could absorb that additional dit ional tax even though it is just one eighth of a cent on every sale that is made he would go broke in a few months so there is more than the amount of the tax collected as a protection business not as sound As it was in 1917 18 and that is the damnable feature of the excess profits tax during its first application 1917 1918 and 1919 every business that had to pay an excess profits tax had to protect its own pocketbook it could not tell in april what its business would be in november or any other month its prices had to be scaled upward to bring in enough profit that it would be able to pay the tax the amount of which it could not forecast these new taxes come at a time when few businesses have any real reserve for a rainy day ten years of depression has left them with no tat fat yet tf if we do not have the new taxes where will our government find itself in respect ot of the lack of reserve the business of the country is in quite a different situation than it was in 1918 when the earlier excess profits tax went on then business was functioning making money hand over fist reaping war profits from before the united states joined the allies against germany now the tax goes on and business is flat on its back tax structure of nation needs reorganization the laying of these new taxes brings the people of the country face to face with another fact I 1 have been preaching against wasti waste and have been called anti new deal because I 1 have criticized the administration for piling up such a huge debt in excess of but I 1 believe a good many folks now are going to realize that sen harry byrd the virginia democrat was exactly right when he urged that the whole tax structure be gone over and reorganized he wanted to see a sound tax structure he surely was right when he said there are contradictory and ridiculous di tax levies in effect and they ought to be corrected the condition links directly with my recollection of old noah noah went out and spent his money with no thought of the future the present administration went out and borrowed under one excuse or another until the national debt is the greatest in the nations history without any thought of the future they built and raked leaves and constructed unneeded buildings and spent billions in every direction it strikes me that since the administration has emulated old noah it ought to wake up and take the advice of some sound thinkers such as senator byrd the taxes must be paid yes in undreamed of amounts but the taxpayers in the country have a right to demand some system in that taxation some of these days an understanding in g of the sour nature of these taxes will permeate down to the last person who eats the politicians have been getting away with the grandest deceit by using hidden taxes taxes you have paid as a part of the price of your purchase for years I 1 think the end is not far off I 1 firmly believe that the tremendous taxes we are going to have to pay beca because se we played like noah the farm hand will teach a lot of folks a lesson today new taxes are upon us in a manner that is harmful we must have those taxes we should have had them five years ago if we had our debt would not have been s ss big so unmanageable it was and Is noah all over again we have hav spent what we had we have borrowed from the earnings and thie th savings of our children and grand children for playhouse play house purposes now when our nation is viewed ba b many to be in very real danger the th mess is made complete by a system of taxation which is completely cockeyed |