The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-05-08
sT10hG ARGU|N|)EnIs N
FAVOR OF INCOME Tx
Senator Borah Says Extravagance
Has Become Our National
"a *s Disease. .@ z..

And Declares Wealth Should
Bear It's Just Proportion Of
Public Burden.
Washington, May 6.-Declaring that
extravaganza has become almost ma
tional disease, Senator Borah syester-
day argued for an income tax as a
means for wiping out the deficit in the
treasury as well as awakening public
interest in national expenditures. He
said the tax, which he proposed,
should be used to build up a great
navy and great army for the pur-
pose of covering the nations of the
earth, but that the. burden Of taxa
ton should be taken from those who
dig the earth and put upon the purses
Of; those who would never miss it.
II believe in an income tax" said
Mr.. Borah, mot that we may impose
the whole burden of government upon
the rich or upon wealth, but that
wealth may bear it's just proportion of
that burden which it does not do I'M
der syste moi taxation resting en-
tirely upon consumption Every. sys-
tenn of taxation resting upon consump-
ton should be supplemented with an
income tax, not alone for the purpose
Of raising extra revenue, but for dis
tributing the burden of whatever rev.
enue Is necessary more equitably and
more in. accordance with the ability
to pay"
-: The Income; Tax.
equitable and fair, not class legisla-
ton, and not an attack upon wealth
but simply a reasonable demand that
the burdens Of government should be
met in due proportion by the great
property interests and accumulated
wealth, Mr.. Borah asserted that it was
a tax which gauges itself according
to mans success or failure. He said
it reaches the income Of the profess
sional man, who may now escape al
most entirely. Declaring that it was
no more an incentive to perjury or
fraud than the personal tax laws in
the various states, Mr. Borah claimed
| that the income tax was no more in
quisitorial than the system of ma
tional taxation Of today.
IT believe in it, continued Mr..
Borah, strange as It may seem to
| some, as an educator in economy in
public expenditures. ~ For a hundred
years we have been making speeches
in favor Of cutting down expenditures,
| and voting the other way The con-
gress in which the voice Of retrench-
| ment was loudest has been followed
almost invariably by the congress
carrying the largest appropriations"
Referring to the Il statement which
| was made by Mr.. Aldrich that con-
gress, in the last session, appropriated
| 100000 unnecessarily, Mr.. Borah
said: IF that be- trde, and I believe
| the figures to- be, modest. what an
awful indictment ofsthis congress, and
| how vain and futile Seems all prophecy
| as to The future in the matter Of re-
trenchment. I do not want to be mis-
understood. I have no kind Of doubt
| that the senator from Rhode Island
I is entirely sincere ana wholly in earne
est when he say sthat@ we must curtail
expenditures. Neither do I underrate
his ability or his power. If he sue
ceeds he will have performed a great
er service to his country than has
been performed by any man in forty
years. -
Mr.. Borah, asserting that extrava-
disease, said, TT permeates the home
it permeates college and church, il
pervades society and it is rife in every
department of government-that II
has reached almost the point, Of GRIM
inality is proven by the words Of the
senator from Rhode Island. It is {
disease Of the blood and you canno
cure it like appendicitis by cutting
it off. You will have to rehabilitatt
the system. This will take time ant
a great deal Of attention and i'm
measurable persistence Of purpose. II
other words, you will never do it un-
til public opinion is thorough,
aroused" zig >@@- - ~~:@
| Lacks Specific Information.
So long as the sole system Of taxa
tion for national expenditures consists
in that for moi taxation which doe!
not inform the man who pays the tax
of the specific amount he pays, ant
so long as it taxes the poor and ricl
to the same extent Mr.. Borah con
tended that publ copinion will lacl
that specific information, the direct
concrete example as to extravaganc,
necessary to arouse it to a careful
scrutiny and an awakened interest ii
what is being done with the none!
collected. He said there is no way b,
which public opinion can be aroused
so deeply and SO quickly as by calling
/
Ito assume each year 9 specific amoun
to defray the expenses Of the govern
ment. i !. 80 a.g>. s.s
! When you say to them under thos,
circumstances argued Mr.. Borah, 9:
have spent ;5o,ooo.ooo OF your none,
unnecessarily and Just becausea1 could
you will be called to the bar Of publ,
4 opinion and condemned to the solitud,
; Of private life. .3f5. IL I'll.
| Speaking Of the agitation for !;