Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-05-14

WAR TAAES TO HIT EVERYBODY.
(Brooklvn Eagle.1

The House Ways and Means Committee
bill TO raise approximately 81. 500. ZOO a
year has been printed and made public.
The expected revenue j.. roughly speaking.
SIS for every man, woman and child in the
United States. or 800 for the normal cen
sus family of five persons with one wage
earner-$7.50 "A month. Of course. con
gress figures that the rich will pay more
than the poor, and they will. But the de-
gree to which the taxes OF the rich will
be passed on cannot be estimated. And
even the practically direct burden on the
working masses l. considerable.
A tenement house dweller who goes to
n motion picture show will pay a tax of 10
per cent on his ticket. The poorest wom-
an who uses proprietary medicines: the
poorest man who smokes a pipe. or takes
a drink occasionally, will be taxed for it.
Every article imported into this country.
no matter who buys it. will carry the bur
den. The unmarried man who earns Il
shade over $40 a week will pay 40 cents a
week tax; the married man who gets more
h $40 a week will pay the same. All
incoffas' Over = $4,000 viii be subject to sur
taxes, running in grades up to 33 l-3 per
cent on Incomes over 100000. Five per
cent on the cost of motorboats. automo-
biles and motorcycles and musical instru-
ments will be levied. Every telephone call
will pay a tax. Every railroad ticket will
contribute, save those used by commuters.
The excess profits tax i fixed ut Is
per cent. Your normal income tax for
1916 will be Increased by "a third. This j.
a suggestion of Secretary McAdoo. 1t
seems to run athwart of the constitutional
prohibition of ex post facto laws. but the
courts will settle that point later. lnheri-
tance.taxes are increased. graded up to Is
per cent TN $l5,OO0,000 leeacies.
There will he strong fight against the es-
tablishment of ''zones" for second class
mail matter, now n cent n pound for the
benefit of the publishers and buyers of
reading matter. A drastic clause in this
feature of the bill makes it impossible for
the publisher Of n magazine 10 get lower
zone. rates by freight or express ship
ments of copies of his publication 10 cen
trail distributing points. Ii j. claimed that
the circulation of New York magazines
west of the Mississippi would be almost
cut off by this law, and of
large mail circulation would be hard hit.
The most unexpected thing about the
bill as drawn j. the raising of all custom.
duties, horizontally, 10 per cent, and the
abolition of the free li-t, substituting for
this a blanket tariff of 10 per cent on all
articles now on that list. The republicans
in congress nave insisted on higher duties.
But they will not be satisfied with this
~inaiion between things that ought 10 be
free, a raw materials for our manufac-
turers and other things.
We are inclined to believe that some
sections of the measure are offered only
for discussion in committee of the whole,
and with little expectation Of their enact
ment. But the measure will not be radi-
cally affected if these are stricken out. Ii
is drawn on logical lines. Ii is intended To
reach and virtually does reach every citi-
zen in a way that he can understand. 1t
balance contributions demanded from
capitalists by others demanded from work
ers. That is right and wholesome.
This Is no motion picture war: no opera
bouffe imitation of the real thing. II bill
lions are TO be given to creating an array
and navy, TO building ships, to aiding our
allies, those billions must come out of the
American people. We must give and we
must sacrifice. We must seek thrift and
pursue it. And if everybody does that,
even the SIS per capita levy will be met
witout much trouble-our waste j. much
more than that, taking the national aver
age.
Americans prefer to look the worst in
the face. The house committee has not
misjudged its constituents. In resistin.