Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-02-11
WAR REVENUE BILL
The Largest Money Bill i'm History
Submitted to Congress on
Thursday

on in conference and the largest
money bill in history, was submitted
on Thursday to the house. and it is
predicted that it will be adopted with.
out alterations. 1t is estimated, rough.
ly, that the provisions of the proposed
Legislation will produce 5000, 900 OOC
in taxes.
| Corporations and individuals with
large incomes will be hit hardest, but
those who escape paying their part
OF the wars cost will be few in mum
Der, as the provisions make consid-
cradle inroads into the incomes of per-
sons with small salaries, and even the
customer of a soda water fountain
will pay his penny for each ten cent
purchase.
The single man, for instance. who
paid tax last year of $40 on an in
come of $4,000 (his exemption remains
at $1,000 will this year face a tax of
S120 instead. The married man, taxed
on not more that $4,000, will face the
same ratio of increase, but his ex-
emption will be $4,000. Men COM
manding larger salaries will pay II
per cent on all over $4,000 of his in
come and be subject to a surtax which
increases gradually from l per cent
as the taxable part of his income
mounts above the first $4,000 A man
with net income of $1,000,000 will
lose $694,030 of it in personal tax.
These are but a few of the features
illustrating the scale on which the
provisions of the proposed legislation
will reach into the pocketbook of the
IN iui6na1 in c.
called luxuries and semi-luxuries are
taxed on an average of from to 10
per cent. The old theater admission
tax of 10 per cent is retained
The tax on distilled liquor for
beverage purposes jumps to $6.40 a
gallon, and the tax on beer to Sc a
barrel. Persons renting passenger
automobiles must pay taxes of $40 and
$40 according to the seating capacity
of the cars; billiard and pool parlors
pay their homage to the cost of war,
and in innumerable ways taxes reach
out to confront everyone of the ma
tion's 100,000,000 population. Trans
portation, telephone and telegraph
service are under the tax provisions.
A feature of the bill which will un-
doubtedly attract much attention,
queerly enough, provides for the ex-
penditure of money instead of its col
lection by tax. This is section 1406,
which, as general proposition, but
with certain restrictions, provides for
the payment of a bonus of $50 to per-
sons in military or naval service
upon his or ''her" honorable dis
charge. The fiat $50 rate puts officers
and men IN tha Same basis
Another popular feature of the bill,
and one which will provide for re-
duced governmental earnings is
restoration of the cent letter post
age rate, effective July 1, 1919, with
the additional provision that letters
written by soldiers or sailors on over
seas duty shall be handled postage
free.
The confarees struck out the pro-
vision which contained the present
second class mail zone rates which are
restored to pre-war basis.
The conferees left in the provision
which makes the whole District of
Columbia bone dry as soon as Presi-
dent Wilson signs the bill. Only the
foreign embassies and the legations,
which are accorded diplomatic immun-
ity, escape this fate.
The bill provides for taxation of the
income of President Wilson and all
federal Office holders, but does not en-
croach on the salaries of state officials.
There is a report that an attempt
may be made to obtain later a sub
stitute for the luxury tax provision by
passage of a joint resolution by con-
greSs.
The subject of corporation taxes is
bound up in a tangle of technicalities
which affect depreciation, amortiza-
ton, obsolence and other important
provisions which must be determined
upon arriving at taxable incomes for
1918 and 1919. The majority of the
so-called "relief measures" or "cush-
ions" inserted in the original house
draft of the bill by the senate amend
ments remain in the conference re-
port, but safeguard against abuse
| is incorporated in the shape of the
most severe penalties for which wilful
violation of the spirit OF the proposed
| Legislation.
Probably the most generally felt
provision will be the one which vir-
tually doubles the federal income tax
and makes the married man with an
income of $4,000 subject to a $50 tax
and the single man to a s120 tax.
The bill has been reported to the
house of representatives by the con-
ference committee and such a step
usually makes its passage formality
| One of the new features is the 10
per cent tax on ice cream purchased
at soda fountains and on soft drinks
There are numerous taxes on busi-
ness transactions of all kinds.
The so-called excise tax will hit
talking machines and records, sport
| ing goods, cameras, candy, chewing
gum, electric fans; thermos bottles and
meerschaum pipes.
| The luxury tax which is payable at
the time the purchase is made, calls
for 10 per cent on the following:
Carpets and rugs over S5 a square
yard, travelling bags over $25, purses
and shopping bags over $3.50, portable
lamps over $25, umbrellas over S4
women's hats over SIS and mems hats
over SIS, mems shirts over So and a
large number of other articles.
Retailers generally believe that
certain classes of goods Will be hard
| hit. They are vehement III their de-
nunciation of the measure and believe
public sentiment will manifest itself
strongly against it.
It is believed that the bookkeeping
system which will be necessary for an
accurate report will be an involved
one and that in general the time and
trouble will cost more than the re
turn to the government in cash.