The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-21
INCOME TAX BILL
CONTAINS " JOKER"
but IN THIS PARTICULAR IN
STANCE THE JOKE is ALL
WITH THE PEOPLE.
RICH MEN HIT HARD
BIG STOCKHOLDERS IN CORPORA
TIONS MUST PAY MUCH LARG-
ER PER CENT THAN THE
SMALL ONES.
BY CLYDE Fl. TANENNFR.
Member of Congress.

WASHINGTON, Aprjl 20-SYes.
there is a Joker in the income tax
bill But in this legislation, for a
change, the Joker" is all for the peo-
pie
The possessors of swollen for
tunes were much perturbed by the
pending income tax legislation, and
when the bill finally issued from the
printers they read il with a great
deal Of interest The first paragraphs
were disquieting. They fixed the rates
of taxation on private incomes per
cent on an income of over $4,000 and
under $4,000, 2 per cent on
as much of the income as is above
$4,000. 3 per cent on ali Of it above
I $50, 600 annually, and per cent on
any excess of 100000 per year Tn
der this graduation a plutocrat like
John d. Rockefeller will be required
to pay 4 per cent income tax on ali
his income except 500, 600 per year.
This was alarming.
1t was not until Wall Street read
down TO the corporation section that
it felt that perhaps II had been judg
ing the Democratic house too harsh
~. For, while individuals are as
sessed on a graduated scale. corpora
tons are given n fat tax rate Of /
per cent no matter how large their
annual profits. Even the great steel
trust VIII De required To pay nut /
per cent tax on its vast earnings.
Smile Comes Too Soon.
When the Wall Street lawyers read
this far they smiled Cynically Yes
they had been too hasty In condemn
ing the Democratic house Here were
the corporations receiving better
treatment than individuals. II seem
ed almost like old times But the
smiles faded as they read on into the
Joker"
For while the corporation escapes
the graduated tax. the stockholder
in the corporation doesn't. Up to S20.-
000 the stockholders income from
corporation dividends is exempt from
ta&atton-the corporation itself hay
ing already paid the / per cent on TINS
amount But on dividend income
above 500 coo the stockholder pays
! per cent, above $500 . per cent,
and above 500. 600 3 per cent,
Small Stakeholder Exempt.
It didn't take Wall Street more
than a minute to figure out that this
meant that the small stock holder, the
widow who invests the proceeds Of
her husbands small life insurance
policy in stocks, the small investor ev-
erywhere, will be exempt from excess
sive taxation. II will put the chief
burden of taxation on the rich alone.
Wall Street would have much pre-
ferred to have the corporations them
selves pay the graduated tax. For
then the smallest stockholder, the
holder Of a single share. would be re
CURED To contribute from his slim
dividends 10 pay the : per cent which
such corporations as the steel trust
will have TO pay on the bulk Of its
earnings.
And in case the rich man would try
to evade taxation on dividends by us
ing the S20.0 exemption provision
that is, by scattering his investment
among many corporations so that his
dividends i'm no individual case
amounted TO more than $20.000--the
new income tax bill specifically pro-
vides that in assessing incomes from
dividends. all of the dividends from
all sources must be treated as lump.
The individual gets his single S2a,-
600 exemption and that is all
The pending income tax bin IS one
of The most progressive measures ever
submitted to congress with hope If
passage. From the first 10 the last
paragraph ii is pregnant with pro-
gressivism. Cleverness, even craft
has been used by its Trainer Repre-
sentative Cordell Huh of Tennessee.
but used to benefit the common peo-
pie instead of the great financial IN
teresl.