Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-02
AN EQUITABLE TAX LAW
THE GREAT ISSUE FOR 1920
and Excess Profits Statute Needs
to Be Nationallzed

of income and excess profits tax is to be
I paid, millions of men in the North and
West are doing some hard thinking
about the issue on which the campaign of
1920 should be fought.
1t is about time that the Republican
leaders in Congress began to give some
attention to it also.
The issue is not the merit or demerit of
the peace treaty or the Representations
covenant. These things will be out of
the way before the national conventions
are held. Discussion Of them will be like
| holding an inquest over a corpse long
since buried. And this peace settlement
| is not a partisan issue, anyway, in spite
of the attempt of Senator Lodge to line
up the Republicans in fight against the
! plan which the President brought back
from Paris. Outside of Washington the
Republicans and Democrats alike, with
few exceptions, favor the treaty with the
league of-nations covenant. They want
it got out of the way so that attention
can be given to domestic matters of the
gravest moment.
There is no domestic question of
greater Importance than that of federal
taxation. The Kitchin income and eX-
ss-profts tax law is one of the most
pernicious pieces of sectional and class
legislation ever enacted by Congress
committed to the proposition that those
parts of the country which preferred Re-
publican to Democratic congressman
should be punished for their presumption.
well get even with the North and the
West and we'll show the manufacturing
states what it means to have the Demo-
Gratis in power" was the way they talked
while they were putting the bill through
The State of Pennsylvania, with a
wealth of $4,000, ,O0O,O 900, paid more than
one-ffth of all the sums collected under
the Kitchin law last year. The whole
group of South Atlantic states-Dela-
ware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
and Florida-the total wealth of which is
about the same as that of the single state
of Pennsylvania, paid less than one-tenth
of the total and less than one-half the
amount contributed by this state. The
figures are S495,0OO,0O0 from this state
and s184,000,000 from the South Atlantic
group. For every dollar that the wealth
of the South Atlantic group had to pay
the wealth of Pennsylvania mad to pay
about $2.65.
And why is this? 1t is because a GER
tain class of business which thrives in
the Republican states was selected to
bear the brunt of the burden and the
great agricultural industry of the South
was exempted, ard it is because every
person whose income did not reach a cer-
tain figure was also exempted and the tax
on those whose incomes were above a
certain figure was doubled and trebled
until the very rich were forced to turn
over to the government 60 per cent of
what they received.
The Kitchin law does not lay an equit-
able tax upon wealth to be borne by
wealth wherever it may be. 1t lays a
tax only on certain kinds Of wealth held
by a certain group of. citizens in GER
tain section of the country. And it is a
direct tax deliberately devised to exempt
certain classes of the population regard
less of their aggregate wealth.
And this tax has been handed on to
the consumers in every part of the coun-
try. 1t has increased the first cost of all
| manufactured articles and has increased
the retail cost likewise, because the large
retailer in the big centers of population
has added his income tax and his excess
| profits tax to the retail price. The bur-
| den has not been distributed fairly over
| all industry and all wealth in the first
place, but it has fallen upon the shoul-
| ders of those least able to bear it, namely,
| the poor who have had to pay the in
creased prices for what they consume.
| The Kitchin law is wrong not only he
| cause it is class and sectional legislation
but also because it levies a direct tax.
| The Republicans have consistently advo-
Gated indirect taxation. One of the
| great merits of raising revenue by a
tariff is that the tax is distributed widely
and indirectly over the whole consuming
public; and when the tariff is protective
! it compensates the consumer by increas-
| ing his wages to a greater extent than
the amount of the tax. And the excise
taxes which the Republicans have levied
are also indirect and bear heavily on nc
one.
There must be radical revision of the
producing legislation in the near
future and the Republicans must demon,
strate again their ability to deal with
such questionsin sane and businesslikt
manner. The new tax bills will be han
died and whipped into shape by Senator
Penrosc's finance committee, even though
they are drafted by the ways and means
committee of the House.
The senator faces the opportunity Of
! his lifetime to demonstrate his financia
4 statasp,anshin His abilities are rot die