Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-25
Cotton Men Put Blame for
High Cost Of L1ving on
= Federal T7axatlQn System
Prominent Manufacturers
ADVOCATE Constructive Re-
vision at United States
War ime Schedules

MAPLEWOOD. N. H. Sept. %
The present system of federal taxa
| ton was declared to have created "ar
intolerable situation" and ~ be re.
sponsible for the continued prices OF
many articles, by speakers at the
opening session of the semi-annual
meeting of the National Association
of Cotton Manufacturers. Suggested
substitutes included an employers
privilege tax, outlined by Theodore
H. Price. editor of Commerce and
Finance. of New York, and a gross
sale tax, explained by William E
Cornwell. of New York.
The people of the country, Mr.
Mr.. Cornwell said. are becoming edu-
Gated to the fact that the whole sys-
tenn Of taxation in the United States
is wrong, adding that the system was
founded on class and sectiona
| bias"
Two important sources of the
country's progress are being driee
| up by operation of the excess profits
tax and heavy sur-taXes on incomes
| the speaker said. These sources
were surplus capital and intelligent
enterprise.
"As to the first" he continued, "the
| high taxes are driving people with
| large incomes to invest as much as
possible in tax exempt securities in
stead of furnishing capital for new
business and general commercial anG
| financial development.
And as to the second, extra prof
ed by the government instead of be-
ing used to strengthen business con.
Germs and to provide against losses
in lean periods which are bound tc
come"
The requirements of a good taa
system. Mr.. Cornwell said, were
That it be fair to all: that the bur
den be universally distributed, anG
that the collection be simple an6
easy instead of being complicated
and irritating.
! . "A tax on gross sales Is an idea
! development of these requirements,
| he added. 1T is passed along in very
| small fractions and added through
| the various processes from the pro
Queer of raw material to stage after
| stage during manufacture. the ta1
! almost collecting itself, accommodating
| automatically as it proceeds. and is
| finally paid by the consumer prac
tically, without his knowledge, and
materially to affect prices''
Mr.. Price in his address declared
| that the present sur-taxes penalizt
| success and compel an enterpriSins
man to pay the government an i'm
! moderate share of his gains in {
70 1nn h 90
! the losses of an improbable year
alone.
Explaining the employers priv
! lege tax which he proposed as a sub
stitute for the present system, Mr.
Price said in part:
by and large, the great mass OF
| things mankind consumes are the
product of work on the farm and il
| the mines, factories and offices
| Therefore. if the labor cost of these
| things was taxed we should approx.
innate an equitably distributed con
sumption tax, and if it were supple
| mented by a reasonable income ta1
plus moderate surtaxes, we would, il
! seems to me, be coming about as neal
| as we can get painless and fairly
| apportioned tax.
"A manufacturer or merchan
| whose monthly disbursements fol
| wages. salaries or piece work totalleC
| 100000. would at the end of tn,
month send statement to Washing
| ton with check for the amount Of
! his tax. If the tax were per cent
his check would be $4,000, which hi
| would include in his overhead
| charges and add to the selling price
| of his product.
1.-THE price paid by the manufac
turer of an entirely finished or mar
ketable product for the raw or par.
| TALLY finished material that he uset
/ would have hapn nnrroSnnndinD1U In
| creased by the employers privilege
tax paid upon the wages paid to those
employed in it's production, and thus
the price at which the article was
| sold for consumption would include
all the employers privilege taxes
that it had to bear in it's progress
from the first producer to the ulti
! mate buyer"