The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-04
'NTCH|N CHARGES ABIG BUSINESS" IS FAVORED IN TAXES Chairman House Ways and Means Committee Attacks
 Senate Revenue Bill GREAT CORPORATIONS TO BEAR NO BURDENS Majority Leader of Congress Issues Statement and Goes Into Detail
 in Criticizing Measure to
 Be Reported

Washington, August 3.-Chairman committee declared in n statement to- night that "intOlerable inequalities" in favor of the more prosperous have been written into the war tax bill by the Senate finance committee.
 In rewriting tfie ways and means com mittee's measure, said MT. Kitchin, the senators have taken an enormous load of taxation from the big business con- cerns and placed 1t upon the shoulders of the farmer, the small business man. and others having modest incomes nave stricken out by wholesale the House pro- posals for taxes on sluxuries, substituting levies on necessities; have eliminated lh- come tax scheduled that would have talk en needed millions from the incomes or the rich; and have added grossly ln- equitable excess profits section which IS impossible of administration The state ment of the House leader generally was accepted as warning that should the finance committee amendments prevail in the Senate they will encounter stub- born resistance once the measure gets to conference. The House bill cham pioned by MT. Kitchen was drawn at bi- partisan conferences of representatives, was supported during debate by both democratic and republican lealers and passed the House by virtually a unani- nous vote.
 DETAIL OF CRITICISM
 Among Mir. Kitchin's criticisms are that the finance committee struck out the Lenroot amendment, increasing sur taxes on incomes of s4o,0O0 to s1oo0, ,00O thus relieving large incomes of taxation totalling s66o0O,O0o annually. Repealed the muntion manufacturers tax, reliev- ing intuition makers of more than $25,- 0O0,000 a year; extempted all corpora tions from taxation for dividends re- ceived from other corporations. relieving the big corporations of more than ESQ., O0O,0O0 taxes a year; and eliminated the additional House tax on the transfer of estates, relieving big estates and in- heritances of $6,O00,0Oo the first year and $SS, ,OOO 900 or more yearly thereafter.
 The finance committee struck out en- tirely said MT. Kitchen, many millions of dollars of taxes which the House had imposed on the manufacture and sale of automobiles, tires, cigars. musical instru- ments and numerous other luxuries and shifted over $10OO0O,O00 to the owners of automobiles and to necessities like sugar, coffee, tea and cocoa.
 REDUCE TOBACCO TAX
 The finance committee reduced taxes on cigarettes, chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff about 900, he pointed out, and put that amount on coffee, tea and cocoa.
 The Senate plan to tax war excess profits on the basis of the increase shown in any corporation's profits over the average for a pre-war period of three years-the years 19l1 1912 and 1913--is de- clared by Mir. Kitchin to be manifestly unjust, making an undue discrimination in favor of the fortunate persons or cor porations who were highly prosperous during the pre-war period. On that bassis he said, corpora tion of s1o.000000 capital making S1,- 50o,000 during the pre-war years and the same now would pay no excess profits tax, while farmer with a $20,o00 cor poration, making $1200 during pre-