Omaha daily bee., 1916-12-27
FIGURE ON SCHEME
TO GET MORE MONEY
England Proposes a Tax on
About Everything Connected
With Living, or Dead.
BOOSTING FOR. REVENUE

Correspondence of The Associated Press)
London, Dec. l0.---"What can we
tax next?" is the question which fnan-
cial advisers of the government are
puzzling over as the time draws near
for next years budget. With the cost
of the war steadily mounting, any
proposal that bids fair to realize few
thousand pounds per year without in
justice to individuals and without in
creased cost of collection is worth
careful scrutiny. The new French tax
on all who buy extravagant meals at
cafes and restaurants is being favor
ably watched from the English side
of the channel. and at the same time
even the smallest existing items of
public revenue are being examined to
see if they can be made to yield more.
A writer in the Economist suggests
a revision of the numerous license
duties, other than liquor licenses. For
example, manufacturer of wood
alcohol now pays an annual license of
10 pounds, 10 shillings, while a manu-
facturer of petrol or gasoline only
pays l pound.
"The number of firms involved is
less than eighty" says the writer,
"but it is believed that they could
safely stand considerable increase in
charges. A similar increase is posi-
bic in the case of dealers in these
commodities. Almost as much could
be obtained by increasing the licens-
ing fees for selling patent medicines
from 5 shillings to pound. These
licenses moreover, are at present col
lected only in Great Britain, and could
be extended without great injustice to
Ireland as WELL" =
Would Increase Dog Tax.
1T must be said" writes another
tax expert, that so small an annual
duty as 5 shillings ought never to
have been imposed for any purpose.
The cost of collecting. such sum
year is altogether out of proportion
to the revenue secured. Even the dog
tax, which at the present rate Of Is cd
($l8s) yields nearly 100000 pounds
yearly, could certainly be increased
without appreciable hardship"
The present license fee charged for
dealers in tobacco is IS cd per year. 1t
is proposed to increase this to l
pound, representing an increase in
revenue of nearly 100000 pounds.
A doubling of license fees is recon-
mended for real estate agents and
dealers in gold and silver. The former
now pay from Q to 10 pounds, the lat
ter from 2 pounds 6 shillings to. 5
pounds IS shillings.~ An increase of
about 10000 pounds a year in the
treasury's receipts could be obtained
by these increases.
Playing cards, which at present pay
8 pence pack, may be expected to
suffer an increase to perhaps pence.
Tax for Keeping Help.
Other licenses which are likely to
be increased are the duties on male
servants, on carriages and motor cars,
the gun licenses and the licenses in
connection with the hunting or preser-
walton Of game. The tax on male
servants may also be supplemented by
d HCW Lax Oll dill 5ilOuSClOluS CIllplOy-
ing more than one female servant.
The tax on male servants at present
is IS shillings year.
A year, ago the ,exchequer proposed
the doubling of the taxes on automo-
biles, but this resulted in an alto
gether excessive increase in the duties
on the higher-powerd cars, and the
proposals were eventually withdrawn.
Any new proposals which are sub
mitted are likely to involve a more
careful revision of the scale, gradual
ing the rates so as to prevent such
anomalies as duty of AZ pounds on
car of sixty-horsepower and IS pounds
on car of sixty-one- horsepower. In
particular the duties on motor
bicycles and small cars are likely to
be radically raised, as it, is claimed
that these are the vehicles which are
now uselessly consuming gasoline.
One of the more radical proposals
for new taxation is that put forward
few days ago by-Prof. A. c. Pigou
of Kings college, Cambridge univer-
sity. He urges that all persons who
have been granted exemption from
military service shall be subject to
special war tax, and that this tax shall
be levied not merely on men of mill
tary age, but on all stay-at-homes,
whether old or Young