The sun., 1918-07-27
Bond Subscriptions Must 30 In
fluenced by Special War Taxes.

fuenced by Special War Taxes.
At last the taxation shadows of the
Ways and Means Committee seem to
be pierced by little light. Chairman
KITcHIN still itches for more profits
taxes from prosperous industry and
business than there are profits. He
still yearns to squeeze out of small
part Of the territory north Of Mason
and Dlxon's line the great bulk Of the
war revenues. He still Graves the no.
torlety of making sectionnllsm, in tax
gathering, paramount. But he has
discovered the elemental truth that
you cannot tax away from corpora
tons or men more than they have to
give up.
From the Treasury Department, or
from somebody, Chairman KITcHIN
has learned that there is a limit to
income taxation; that Its possibilities
are bounded very simply, but very
clearly, by the dimensions of the in
come itself. From the Treasury, or
from somebody else, he even gives
promise of learning that you cannot
tax an income to death, whether 1t be
the income Of a man or=ef corpora
ton, and then go on taxing the ghost
of that income.
From the Treasury, or from some
body, Chairman KITcHIN Is on the
verge of comprehendlng that already
excess profits, like normal incomes,
are beginning to shrink. They are be-
ginning to shrink because fixing prices
limits the height to which profits can
climb; because, when prices are fixed,
increases of wages every day or SO.
increases of all costs of operation
every day or so, haul down profits
and incomes from the sky and then
speed them in the direction limited
only by zero.
Now, then, having come along. or
almost come along, as far as that,
Chairman kITcHlN has something else
to learn before the Treasur can be
sure of the funds necessary to the nd-
eQuate support of our military forces
so that they can help to whip Ger
many to a standstill. This something
else Is another elemental truth easy
enough for a child to comprehend
when its brain begins TO work as Con
intended the human brain to work.
This Is that the Government cannot
tax out Of corporation all that cor
poration has, out Of business all it
has, out of an individual all he has,
and then expect all of them or any
Of them TO be financially able, after
they have been thus drained Of their
incomes. their resources and their
credit. to pitch In and buy Liberty
bonds by the bale.
The New York district, truth to
tell. was hard put to it last fall to
take the bonds allotted to it. because
the New York district was digging
Its way through mountains Of taxes
specially devised by Mr.. KITcuIN to
bury the New York district. Pile
more and more taxes upon the New
York district-and this is the devoted
aim of Mr.. KITcHIN-and the bond
subscriptions in the New York dis
trict will come harder and harder.
There will be no help for 1t because,
as more drastic and still more drastic
taxation drains the New York dis
trict's sources of revenue drier and
drier, there must be fewer drops to
trickle for bonds or for anything else
And yet the Treasury announce
ment has come that the Government
Is going to ask bond subscriptions in
october much higher than ever be-
fore, perhaps twice as high. All the
while everybody's tax liabilities to
the Government are running on and
on and up and up. Men don't know
yet what those taxes are. They
don't know yet whether they will
take all the surplus that the taxpay-
ers have or only nearly all. But they
do know that, whatever those taxes
are to be, whatever damage they are
to do to industry and business, how
ever strapped they may leave the
taxpayer. those taxes will date back
to the first day Of the year. They
will have been running for ten months
when the bond subscriptions close.
They will have run the full year when
the payments Of the bond subscrlp-
tons are being cleaned up. Those
taxes then will be facing the indus
tries, the businesses and tho men for
whom Mr.. KITcHIN Is now arrang-
ing them.
Bond subscriptions In October next
must be influenced for better or for
worse by the tax laws now brewing
In the Ways and Means Committee.
If Mr.. KITCHEN and his committee
want to do the greatest possible
harm they can do to the nations glo-
rious campaign In France, they need
only to make tax laws that will Grip
pie the capacity Of the country to take
Liberty bonds.