CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE

The SPEAKER. Is there objection

to the request of the gentleman from

Wisconsin?

There was no objection.

Mr. BYRNES of Wisconsin. Mr.

Speaker, present law imposes a tax of 8

cents a pound in the case of tires for

highway vehicles and a tax of 5 cents a

pound in the case of other tires. The

tax is imposed on the rubber content of

the tire. It was demonstrated that existing law imposes a particular hardship on a relatively recent development in a tire

product known as laminated tires.

Therefore, last year the House approved

a bill to correct this hardship by providing a tax of 1 cent a pound in the case of the sale of laminated tires not of the

type used on highway vehicles where the

tire consisted wholly of scrap rubber.

The Senate has amended this bill so as to correct a typographical error, and it

is appropriate of course that the House

should concur in this clerical amendment.

TREATMENT OF COPYRIGHT

ROYALTIES FOR PURPOSES OF

PERSONAL HOLDING COMPANY

TAX.

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- mous consent to take from the Speaker's

table the bill (H.R. 7588) to amend the

Internal Revenue Code of 1954 with respect to the treatment of copyright

royalties for purposes of the personal

holding company tax, with Senate

amendments thereto, and concur in the

Senate amendments.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The Clerk read the Senate amendments, as follows:

Page 3, line 14, after "544." insert: "This

paragraph shall not apply to compensation which is rent within the meaning of para- graph (7), determined without regard to

the requirement that rents constitute 50

percent or more of the gross income."

Page 5, line 17, strike out "1958" and insert "1959'.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from

Arkansas?

There was no objection.

The Senate amendments were concurred in.

A motion to reconsider was laid on

the table.

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to extend my remarks at

this point in the RECORD.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection

to the request of the gentleman from

Arkansas?

There was no objection.

Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, this bill, as

passed by the House, was designed to

prevent the application of the personal

holding company tax to income from

copyright royalties to certain companies.

The problem arose on the fact that

music publishing companies presently

get most of their income from royalties on record sales where previously the

principal income came from sheet music

sales. Despite the fact that the income

is technically in the form of royalties,

the bill prevents it from being personal

holding company income where the income arises in substance from the active

conduct of a business. The Senate made

two amendments. One was to change

the effective date from 1959 to 1960.

The other amendment was designed to

prevent a possible unintended effect of

the House bill as treating certain motion picture and TV film and tape rentals as personal holding company income.

Mr. BYRNES of Wisconsin. Mr.

Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to extend my remarks at this point in the

RECORD.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection

to the request of the gentleman from

Wisconsin?

There was no objection.

Mr. BYRNES of Wisconsin. Mr.

Speaker, H.R. 7588 as passed by the

House was designed to prevent the personal holding company tax from applying to operating income in the music

publishing industry. This is accomplished in the bill by excluding copyright royalties from the definition of

personal holding company income under

certain prescribed circumstances.

The Senate amended the House-passed

bill to make it clear that copyright royalties do not include income from the

leasing of motion picture films which

have been held under existing law to be

rents and not royalties. The Senate also

amended the legislation so as to make

the change applicable to taxable years

beginning after December 31, 1959.

Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that the

House should concur in the Senate

amendments.

ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION-MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 376)

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following message from the President of the United States, which was

read, and, together with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Public Works and ordered to be printed

with illustrations:

To the Congress of the United States:

Pursuant to the provisions of section

10 of Public Law 358, 83d Congress, I

transmit herewith for the information of

the Congress the report of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation,

covering its activities for the year ended

December 31, 1959.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 11, 1960.

OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

Mr. McCORMACK. Mr Speaker, I offer a resolution, House Resolution 500,

and ask unanimous consent for its present consideration.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from Massachusetts?

There was no objection.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

Resolved, That, effective April 1, 1960, there

shall be allocated from the contingent fund

of the House, until otherwise provided by law,

for personal services in the office of the maJority floor leader of the House, an additional

basic sum of $1,500 per annum.

The resolution was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

WILLIAM J. KAISER-VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF

THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO.

374)

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following veto message from the

President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives:

I return herewith, without my approval, H.R. 6023, a bill for the relief of

William J. Kaiser.

The bill would relieve Mr. Kaiser of

all liability to refund to the United

States amounts improperly paid to him

as sickness and unemployment benefits

under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act while he was also receiving

a pension as a retired member of the

New York City Fire Department. The

bill would further direct the Railroad

Retirement Board to repay to Mr. Kaiser

from the railroad unemployment insurance account of the unemployment trust

fund the amounts already recovered

from him.

The Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act itself provides that the Railroad Retirement Board may extend

equitable or compassionate relief in appropriate cases of overpayment when

the Board finds recovery would be

against equity or good conscience. This

the Board did not do and there is no

evidence available to me that indicates

the Board's decision to have been erroneous.

The payments which the bill would

require are not authorized by general

law. More importantly, the money for

the payments would have to come from

a trust fund. The beneficiary has no

valid claim to this money and its payment would constitute a discriminatory

gift from funds which the Government

holds in trust for railroad employees.

For these reasons, and because the

bill would create an undesirable precedent, I am constrained to withhold my

approval.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 11, 1960.

The SPEAKER. The objections of the

President will be spread at large upon

the Journal.

Without objection, the bill and message will be referred to the Committee on

the Judiciary and ordered to be printed.

There was no objection.

MRS. VIRGINIA BOND-VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF

THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC.

NO. 375)

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following veto message from the

President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives:

I am returning herewith, without my

approval, H.R. 7933, "For the relief of

Mrs. Virginia Bond."

1960 7899