The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-12-31
PLACES ESTIMATED,
BONUS COST ABOVE
TWO BILLION MARK
Houston, Before Senate Committee,
Puts Figures at 81, 800, ,o0o, 900
lis Against Increase
Tax Burden.

committee, considering the soldiers
measure.
The treasury secretary declared
enactment of the bill meant an added
burden in the way of taxes, reiterat-
ing a statement, made before the
committee last week, that the treas
ury ought not be called upon to as
sumo any additional burdens.
While Mr.. Houston said it was i'm
possible to compute accurately the
exact cost of each of the four option
al aid plans, he believed the estimate
submitted was substantially correct.
Land settlement provisions of the bill
contain so many uncertainties, ne
added, that the cost entailed by them
could only be guessed at.
Assuming that all of the men would
select one Of the four optional plans
Mr.. Houston estimate, the cost OF
each Of the plans as follows:
Adjusted service pay, $1,342,ooo,-
600.
. Insurance provisions, $4,534, ,00o,'
600.
, Vocational training aid, $780,
100000.
Farm and home development, ST.
100000.
As the plans were optional the Sec
retary said, the choice of the men
would not be confined to any one of
them and allowing for the various
selectives he arrived at his total esti-
mated cost of $2,3O0,00O,Oo0.
The Treasury Secretary professed
to be "against a wall" as to methods
of obtaining revenue to meet the out
lay that would be required if the bill
were enacted. He called the commit
tees attention to suggestions for>new
taxes contained in his annual report,
but explained that these were men
toned only for the information Of
congress and without any sort of rec
The Tax Situation.
He did not attempt to discuss the
various tax suggestions, asking the
committee to hear DR.. T. S. Adams,
treasury economist and tax expert
who gave a comprehensive resume of
the tax situation, referring frequent
ly to Secretary Houston's discussion
of the question in his annual report.
He declared the Treasury was daily
seeing new evidence of a further dry
ing up of revenue sources, adding
that the task of computing tax re-
ceipts was to that extent becoming
more difficult.
DR.. Adams declared the internal
revenue bureau faced another prob
lem in keeping experts on the job.
He said the men who. were capable
did not stay long.
Senator Smoot, Republican, Utah
said "the real danger is that these
men get training in the revenue bu-
reau then go out and help big firms
evade tax payments"
DR.. Adams said that might be true
to some extent, but that he knew Of
one man who left the bureau year
ago whose resignation cost the gov
ernment millions of dollars in uncol-
lected taxes for he was an executive
with an expert knowledge of the
work."
The witness said this was typical
of the "labor turnover" and that it
affected the tax collections
and would continue: to have a more
direct effect on such collections un-
less tax laws were simplifed.
Senator Smoot said all those diff
culties could be avoided if revenue
law which 'the average man can un-
were passed by congress.
The committee adjourned without
setting. late for further hearings.
The recent British coal strike is