The Washington herald., 1915-10-16
A Tax that Would Teach Economy.

New York City is wrestling with tax problem
as well as with new constitution which is to be
voted on in November and the tax problem is at
tracing more attention than the constitution be-
cause it is vital The present tax system docs not
produce the necessary for the city or the
State. The assessors boosted the assessments on
personal property to about $4,000 100000 a few
weeks ago. but that is rapidly shrinking under the
assaults OF. the taxpayers who are daily swearing
off these assessments and proving that the asses
sors credited them with too much personal prop
crty. In the emergency the tax experts retained
by the Mills legislative committee, now sitting in
New \ ork, have recommended State income tax
to take the place OF the tax on personal property
Their recommendations if adopted will compel
every with income between 81 I,5oe and
$500 to pay a tax OF per cent on his income
while all incomes above $4,000 will have to pay
: per cent tax Corporations will have to
pay tax OF per cent on net incomes. 1t is
estimated that such income tax will produce
not less than 81 1000, 900 revenue
There are other interesting recommendations
from prominent business in New York. that
the income tax shall begin lower down in the
scale and that every person with an income of
more than $500 shall be taxed, that practically all
the citizens OF the State shall share in the re-
sponsbility for the as we'll as for the
expenditures of the State and city. This sug-
gestion made in Congress when tho Federal
income tax was enacted Senators Townsend,
Clapp and Cumnlns suggested that the cxemp-
ton from the income tax be reduced to either
900 or $1,000, so that it WORLD reach the great
majority OF the people make them feel the re-
sponsibility and be more careful about joining
all sorts of movements to force Congress to
make extravagant appropriations for impractical
and unnecessary schemes which selfish promo
tiers always trying to unload on the gov
crnmcnt. Those Senators expressed the opinion
that il all the people helped to support the gov
ernmcnt they would feel direct interest in
having the government conducted economically
and they would think of the revenues as we'll as
OF the appropriations to be made from those
revenues The warning not needed because
the promoters OF the income tax did not desire
that it should reach all the people but only the
comparative few They wanted to reach the mil
lionares and the large business interests OF the
East, and touch very lightly or not at ALL the
farmers OF the West and the South. On the
theory that the farmer is the only real producer
and that all the OF the country lives off the
horny handed tiller of the SOIL they made the in
come tax bear SO lightly upon him that the collec-
ton of this tax costs than it comes to in
some of the great agricultural States Of the
Union. |
At the same time the greatest demands ior |
extravagant appropriations came from the people |
who paid little or no taxes to the Federal govern
ment They demanded big appropriations to ex-
terminate all the bugs, insects and diseases that
they thought might in any way bother the far
mer, and they even secured big appropriation |
to teach them how to run their farms. They
did not feel any responsibility for the revenues
from which these appropriations were made, and
they had hestancy in making their demands |
as great any could suggest. The New /
York plan may prove more economical in the |
long run, for there is nothing like an obligation
to pay for what one insists on spending, whether |
it be personal official. When all the people |
have to helpSsupport the government and con-
tribute a share of the money to pay the bills /
they may be more careful about what they de- I
mand Congress shall appropriate. They will, IN
time learn that large appropriations mean large
taxes. ~. = ~
There too many people who have the
impression that the governments has an mex +
haustible bank roll which comes from some in-I
visible source, instead of realizng that the gov.
Il Z ~