Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-17
The War Tao Bill.
New York Times.

ne country mas come TO lament, rather than
to boast the bigness of our mutibilion war &C.
counts. Those who are to provide the $4,000
100000 Of loan and tax money which the treas
ury must have within the next few months find
no consolation in the fact that no other nation,
and probably no other two nations or perhaps
even any three nations, could do what they have
to do. They would have accepted the burden
with so much better temper and carried it so
much more easily in the months behind than in
the months ahead and the taxpayers have pre-
pared poor reception for their work Congress
will not be surprised at that for it has chosen
to leave out the suggestions of business men
and tax exports to make the taxes as few and
fruitful as possible, and has preferred to persist
with its own methods of laying many taxes
yielding protests more abundantly than dollars.
The bill is 362 pages long, and so many words
were necessary because, for one reason, OF the
multiplicity OF taxes. There was no difficulty in
finding two taxes, the war excess profits and
income taxes, which together are expected to
yield almost five of the six billions total. No
other tax will yield even half billion. For the
sake OF many comparatively small schedules,
there are levied taxes which will cause the most
irritation for the smallest yield ingenuity could
devise it would seem.
The completely of the taxes is worse than
the multiplicity. Pinpricks in the pocket nerves
are annoying, but intricacies of taxation cause
evasion both deliberate and unintentional. No
business men with affairs of moderate or larger
proportions can make out their tax DlllS WltH~
out costly advice 1t seems to them that this
is imposed upon them almost maliciously, due
to insstence upon original errors persisted in
against both counsel and common sense. When
congress passed its first income tax it was ad-
vised of the distinction between income and
capital, but the sentiment was so strongly anti
capitalist that deliberate attempt was made to
tax capital as income. The attempt failed, for
income taxes on capital, which the treasury col
lected, were refunded by order of court. The
second income tax, instead of complying with
the courts declaration of law sought to evade
the decision by declaring capital to be income
and taxing it accordingly. The court annulled
the second attempt as it did the first. And now
the bill contains third attempt by laying taxes
on stock dividends as income, to do what ought
not to be done.
The war excess profits tax shows the same
persistence in error. When the second war ex-
cess profits tax was passed it was simply super
posed upon the first, instead of being rewritten.
At the third attempt there is single law, but
there are mpositions of schedules upon sched
ules and alterations of methods which make
the help of counsel and accountants ndispens-
able. At the very least, these calculations might
have been made once for all, and the equivalent
yields enacted in a single total, instead of addi
tions making it prudent or often necessary to
calculate the taxes in different ways to find
which to pay. There is no complaint from the
lawyers and accountants. Their advertisements
1t is thought that 100000 individuals must
pay income taxes. No corporation guilty of
profits has been allowed to escape The more
the angrer, but that is not a count against the
bill All ought to pay their share and never
were taxpayers more ready than they were be-
fore the bill was made public, with its obnoxious
and inexpedent qualities. The Steel corpora
tons tax appropriations for two years were
$507, 754000, and other corporations pay less
only because their scale of business is smaller.
Taxation which equals capital common stock
in two years is CONSUMPTION of capital by halves
instead of in single operation The objection
is not that the money is taken, but that it is
taken in manner so depressing to industry. |
Long ago railways were cured of enterprise, |
and now the remedy for excess of profits is ap-
piled to corporations and individuals generally. |
What inducement is there to do business for
the payment of taxes and wages? Never was
courage more necessary, and never was there a
more discouraging tax bill. All business is spec
ulation in good sense. Spectators of that sort
calculate closely the chances of their undertake |
ings. When wages and taxes take nearly all, |
few will venture and those who desperately ven |
ture under such conditions take a better chance |
of making conditions worse by their failure than
of lettering conditions of capital and labor by
their success Congressman will receive no
praise because they have taken so many months /
to do so bad job, and have taken such pains |
with what might so easily have been better /
DONE They know their fault because there are
by themselves to annul some parts /
of it voluntarily