, 1919-05-29


great and honorable service to per
ana Industrial undertakings OF the
world back to their old scope and
swing again. and putting a solid
structure of credit under them. Our
Legislation should be friendly to such
plans and purposes.
And credit and enterprise alike will
BIO quickened by timely and helpful
legislation with regard to taxation. 1
hope that the congress will find 1t pos
sible to undertake an early reconsid-
Grafton of federal taxes. In order to
make our system Of taxation more sim
pie and easy of administration and the
taxes themselves as little burdensome
as they can be made and yet suffice
to support the government and meet
all its obligations. The figures to
which these obligations have arisen
are very great indeed, but they are not
SO great as to make 1t difficult for the
nation to meet them, and meet them,
perhaps, In a single generation, by
taxes which will neither crush o dis
courage. They are not so great as
they seem, not so great as the i'm
sums we have had to borrow,
had to raise by taxation. would seem
to Indicate; for a very large proper
ton Of these sums were raised in order
that they might be loaned to the gov
ernments with which we were associ-
ated in the war, and those loans will,
of course, constitute assets, not liabil-
tiles and will not have to be taken
care of by our taxpayers.
Equitable Taxation.
1.-The main thing we shall have to
care for is that our taxation shall rest
as lightly as possible on the productive
of the country, that its rates
shall be stable, and that 1t shall be
constant in its revenue-yielding pow
er. We have found the main sources
from which II must be drawn. I take
it for granted that Its mainstays will
henceforth be the income tax, the ex-
cess profits tax and the estate tax. All
these can be so adjusted to yield con-
slant and adequate returns and yet
not constitute a too grievous burden
on the taxpayer. A revision OF the In
$3.50
py the act OF 1918, but l think you VIII
ma that further n can be made
10 Doth In the rates OF n
tax ana IN the method OF It's coiiection.
Inc excess pronts TAX need not long
oe maintained at the rates which were
necessary WINNIE Tue enormous EXPENSE
y. Tue WAT hsu 10 De oorne' u IL
shouiu oe maue .he pasis OF a perma-
ns sss.e" which VIII reach uhuue
49, .he ehle
sc anu nity =, u business "en'
- nees oush'' ~
- III = fei
-, - 10. S's'.s .he se'-
nonotn ousa. "
sustan =. tha 49,, so
"nI.nu -, ~ -.
e,r,n 20,
.na Io,o ho,,aL -.
COZ hn 49, ~ -
wor nma oan hasa,n "a svmaan.
,nst,eaa.,,, - ~. ann,..n.nasA
stanoas ~ $500 - snSSn-
- ~. "a nappn
viii ooroo orc ,ha a~o,sas No. 80
ous manufactures and the texes nnon
retail sales Tbev are uneoua, In the
Incidence on different industries and
on different individuals. Their co,lec-
tion ia difficult and exnens,ve Those
which are levied unon articles sold at
retail are largely evaded nv the read.
iustment of retail nr,ces. On tho other
hand. I sbmld assume that II ia ex-
Incident IN maintain a considerable
range of Indirect taxes. and the fact
that liouors will nresentlv
no longer afford a source of revenue
nv taxation makes IL the more neces-
sarv that the field should be carefully
r-estudied in order that equivalent
sources of revenue NAV he found
which II will be legitimate. and NOT
-burdensome. to draw upop. But Won
49, -. ~. - ...