The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-08-08

The committee first took up the income
asd excess profits tax provisions of the
| bill, one hour being allotted to each of
i these sections.
Lloyd M. Hooper of Selma, chairman of
the statewide meeting held at the Ex-
| change hotel last night, opened the dis
cussion for the opponents of this part
| of the revenue bill, and introduced the
other speakers, first of whom was r.
| B. Thomas, representing the Commercial
club of Eufaula. The club, he said, is
made up of merchants, farmers, lawyers.
/ doctors and others of Barbour county,
and that part of the state. He said it
1 seemed that under the stress of war the
/ limit of taxation had been reached by the
| government, and that it had come to the
point where the tax collectors office
would resemble a dentists office, that
he would have to keep on hand tanks OF
! laughing gas and extracting apparatus
for extracting taxes from the people of
Alabama.
The increased taxes imposed in this rev.
erue bill, he said, would retard the de-
velopment Of the state
Reviewing government taxation, he said
| prior to the war it took about one billion
dollars a year to meet governmental ex-
| penses; and he recalled with what indig
nation the people read of the first billion
| dollar Congress, but now it is on a five
billion basis and will be no less for years
/ to come.
He said the s-min tax, with some other
appropriations, will take care of the
schools, and the 31s mills will take care of
/ all other departments. The increased
! taxes, he declared, will keep capital out
! of the state. He insisted that the in
! come tax should be stricken out of the
! bill.
AGAINST ALL INCREASES
| George Malone of Dothan was next in
PRODUCED bxa Mr.. Hooper
| MY people are against increased taxa
! tion," he said. This was the issue in
/ the election; not the income tax, but
| against any increase IN taxes.
1--WE elected what we believed to be a
man that we believe to be against in
! creased taxes.
| I'VE had mass meeting of our people,
farmers and business men, and every
! enc of them was against increased taxes.
! They believe that when the money is
| raised it will be spent. Experience teaches
that
| He said that when a man begins saving
! he becomes a better citizen, and he should
be encouraged to save, but taxing his
income does not encourage the saving
habit
I w c. Cook of Greenville said his people
are not tax dodgers: shat they feel that
the state should havefSufficient funds, out
its affaiars ought to be run on an economl-
cal basis like the business man conducts
his business He said his people were
ready to put their shoulders to the wheel
for Alabama as they did for the govern
ment during the war, but they didn
want to enter upon any orgy of spending
| He said the trouble now is not high cost
Of living, but high cost of spending.
] If the income and excess profits tax is
| put on it looks to him, he said, like Ala
hanna was going on the silk stocking basis
like the negro who refused to buy 20
, cent pair of cotton stockings for his girl
but paid 81 for silk pair because they
would feel better.
LEADS TO BOLSHEVISM
He declared if taxes are placed on the
business of Alabama so heavily that i!
cannot make reasonable profit, the time
will come when there will be nothing tt
tax that this innovation in taxation Is
leading to boshevism which means ruin
| for the country
Mr.. Barnett of Monroe county, lawyer
and banker, said the federal corpora tioc
! tax last year was very burdensome, that
his bank at Monroeville with $50 600 capita