New-York tribune., 1909-06-11
INCOME VERSUS
CORPORATION TAX
FORCES ON BOTH SIDES
LINE UP FOR FRAY.
4drOcatcs of Income Tar Unite on
an 4mendment-Pldns of
Senate Leaders.
from The Tribuns Bureau ]

From The Tribuns Bureau1
Washington. June 10.-The announcement this
morning that the Senate leaders. acting the
advice Of the President had practically decidsd
to submit amendment TO the tariff bill a
provision for a per cent tax the dividends
Of corporations and to press it's adoption as .
substitute for the income tax amendments q
Senators Cummins and Bailey proved call to
arms to those advocates Of income tax. and
they promptly determined to bury their differ
ences and unite common measure in orders
70 present solid front when the actual contest
arrived. After somewhat extended conferences;
they agreed on a measure which includes the
fundamental provisions Of the Cunlrnins amend
ment and the non-essentta1s Of the Bailey
amendment. and they insist tonight that they-i
purpose to press It's adoption with all their
power.
BOTH SIDES EXPRESS CONFIDENCE.
This means lineup Of President Taft ana
Senator Aldrich. backed by the Republican or
ganization. side and Senator's Cunnnins
| and Bailey. backed by the "insurgent' Republi-
cans and the Democrats. the other. Senator
Cummins expresses confidence IN his ability to
hold his forces in line to the number OF seven
teen. while the Republican leaders express equal
confidence that he will be unable TO do So Mr.
Cummins wisely refrains from committing HIM
self regarding the Democratic lineup. beyond
the statement that Mr.. Bailey believes he can
obtain a practically solid Democratic vote fort
the income tax proposition
Mr.. Cummins submits that with thirty-onet
Democratic vOtes-Senator McEnery IS noel
counted to vote with his party-znd seven /
teen Republicans he will have total Of AZ, crj
two more than majority OF the Senate. He be-
leves that although the organization may pick
off Of his followers. he will still havs
a majority
The Republican leaders believe Mr. Curlrnins+
/ is seriously mistaken. They say that he coui9i
possibly have mustered a vote OF 4S against a
motion to refer the income tax amendments -
/ the Judiciary Committee. did the organizations
present substitute therefor but they are con-
| fdent that OF the seventeen Republicans On Mr.
Cummins's list considerably more than thrss~41yl
welcome an opportunity to stand for thsir partvf
organization and at the same time vote ror tns
adoption Of special tax which IS strongly cs-
| vored by President Taft And their asssrtiona
| would seem to be we'll founded in view OF ths
/ willingness to support the tax on corporation
/ dividends expressed by men generally resardssss
! as advocates of an income tax who attended ths
! secret meeting held yesterday and described ir~
/ The Tribune this morning.
/ THE INCOME TAX AMENDMENT
| The income tax amendment as agreed to bv
| both Senators Cummfns and Bailey provides for
q :
$4,000 a year. with a provision for the reinn-
bursenent OF those stockholders in corporations
whose total incomes do not exceed $4,000. The
Bailey amendment provided for tax OF per
cent and did not contain the provision for the
reimbursement OF such stockholders
The course OF the advocates OF an income tax
appears TO have made even more certain the
presentation by the Finance Committee OF
amendment providing for a 2 per cent tax
the dividends OF corporations limited in opera
tiOn 70 two years from the time the tariff law
goes into effect The leaders are confident that
such an amendment can be adopted. and they
even predict that il will be by a unanimous Re-
publican vote. but that would be. Of course. only
after the Cummins- Bailey income tax PROPOSE
tion had been voted on and rejected
SPECIAL. TAXATION DISCUSSED.
The discussion of several forms Of special
taxation occupied the attention of Senator'S to
day almost TO the exclusion Of the wool schedule.
which was under consideration. except of
course in the case Of those participating in the
debate. The corporation tax. as described in
The Tribune this morning. was thoroughly can
vassed in cloak and committee rooms. and the
more the proposition was discussed the NOR.
confident became it's advocates Of its adoption
Not the least of its advantages n the opinion
of many Senators. would be the fact that the
President strongly advocates the proposition
and for that reason they think il would add
greatly TO the popularity OF the tariff bill Ths
leaders also admit the prospect that for A year
or two the tariff bill framed in the Senate
will hardly prove sufficient 10 meet the ex-
penses Of the government. and while Sen
ators insist that any deficiency could easily b.
met with Treasury certificates. many others
contend that the necessity Of issuing such Sc
curities would be detrimental TO the success @
the party in the next campaign
Late this afternoon Senator Bailey asked
unanimous consent that his income tax amend
ment. consideration Of which had Eeen set for
to-day go over until tomorrow without preJu-
dice and this was granted.