The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-09-20
MEN AND MONEY FOR THE WAR.

Why must there be all this fuss and feathers about finding
the money to pay for the war. when in a few weeks after war was
the fighting men that Uncle Sam can use for a long time to come?
We We got t the men all alright right and got t them nas quickly: but congress has
on all the other war measures combined. What is the matter?
of sst tSn9tihs the men en- for r the Sss sl%y ?" and tnd" the su answer MS sD to sof the '1 dollar 2sP
question may hit you in the face.
distinct steps. First, we REGISTERED all men of military age in
order to find out how many were available. Then after we knew
means that we could devise to DRAFT into the service of the Unit.
ed States the number needed at the present time for war purposes.
Why not do exactly the same thing with dollars?
Why not register the dollars that should be available for pay
n t" that to- ought I" to do d." 81 the a f h ns and i'd then Mny by W the " f : 5 s p1ae t5 5f
can be devised draft into the service of the United States by taxa
ton just exactly the number of dollars that are needed for war
Did you know that every item of taxation in every revenue bill
Neither congress nor the treasury department knows within mil
lions of dollars how many dollars any particular tax is going to
The key to effective and scientific CONSUMPTION is registration of
men, and the key to effective and scientific taxation is the registra-
We know that every dollar of taxes is finally paid out Of some
|bodys incomes. War profits taxes are simply taxes on incomes
that have not been distributed; taxes on tobacco, liquors, sugar,
stamp taxes and all the hundred and one foxy schemes Of indirect
taxation that have been devised to fool the taxpayer in reality take
Why should we have an income registration day Just as we had
q military registration day on which every American would be OBJ
liged under heavy penalties to declare the amount of his income
with as heavy penalties for fraud and evasion as the Consumption
act contained and just as drasticaly enforced?
Uncle Sam would then know exactly how many dollars could be
draTn o. on p by taxation taxation this year to help pay the wars cost, and it
WOuld De tne simplest matter IN the world with all this exact infOr-
nation in hand to figure out what income tax rates on each parti-
cular class of incomes would have to be to produce the sum that
needed to be raised.
Every mans self-interest would drive him to help make this re-
gistration complete, for he would know that if his neighbor was a
Stacker on income registration day, it would make the tax rate on
himself that much higher, just as the selfinterest of every man
made him active to see that no one escaped military registration,
because every man that Stacked by so much increased the chances
of early draft for all the others.
On income registration day the nation would make a huge inven-
tory OF it's taxation resources, just as every business man makes an
inventory of his goods.
Think what such a system would mean! No more precious time
wasted on complex revenue bills. No more business uncertainty
while congress muddled through longwinded debates. No more
Of that; No more special taxes inflicted to punish this business or
that. Just one simple tax rate on each class of incomes-heavy on
big incomes, light on small ones-that you could figure out for
yourself without the aid of lawyers and accountants!
Isn't it worth while to consider seriously substituting this sim
pie, scientific and effective taxation system for the cumbersome;
unfair and ineffective methods now practiced or proposed De-
wills Lake Journal.