Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-12-22
Taxes

Taxes; death and. taxes: nothing
under the sun more inevitable. II
we do not pay the tax for sustaining
civilized methods we must revert to
paying the tax of the uncivilized, the
tax on energy to WELD the club in
self defense, the tax on initiative re-
Quired to satisfy the daily, needs.
And while we have come to accept
taxes as an ever present evil, the
shadow Of them impends more
threateningiy over all enterprise
than It has for more than gener-
alton Meanwhile the complexity OF
them has been growing more con-
fusing. Opinions ara many and in
the din Of their expounding the aver
age victim has come to the conclu-
sion that the only way is to get what
looks the best and try it out. But
what looks the best to him may to
one Of wider acquaintance and ex-
perience seem absolutely undesirable.
Too often the tax theorist fails to
consider how and where the theory
will apply. They passed the excess
profits law on the ground that 1t
would take from those who were
making money out Of the war; but
the one taxed simply added it to his
selling price and passed it along. A
tax is usually mobile and capable Of
passing along with the buck. Any
thing tending to clog the flow of
capital, the life-blood Of business. is
sure to cause arrangement. Mr..
Otto H. Kahn in an address this
week before the National Industrial
Conference Board pertinently re-
marked that it is high time that
practical considerations and matter
Of fact experience be injected into
the solution Of our fiscal problem"
To do this is itself problem Of no in :
considerable size.
Evidently class luminosity must be
avoided and class experience be
sought. Seven years ago, as he
pointed out, over ninety per cent. of
our Federal revenue was obtained by
indirect taxation. Meanwhile the
revenue demanded has many times
increased and we cannot hope to ap-
proach the old percentage of indirect
taxation. Indeed, that might be I'M
wise were it possible. But there is
reasonableness in the claim that a
different proportion than the existing
one must be found.
With regard to the sales tax about
which so much has been said, Mr..
Kahn admits he has "wobbled," and
now isn't fully convinced respecting
its merits but he feels justified in
suggesting the experiment of "a care
fully designed. gross sales or turn
over tax, limited to commodities, but
only at a rate which would be an
almost nominal one, say, one-quarter
or possibly one-third of one per cent.
That would mean, assuming even
that the tax passes in all instances
from the original producer, manu-
facturer. jobber and retailer to the
ultimate consumer, an almost i'm
perceptible addition to ultimate
costs.
Such an experiment he thinks
would permit US to test out the sys-
tenn for a year without undue risks,
AS he says. raising four billion
dollars by taxation is problem
largely new and will require some ex-
perimenting, and he wisely urges the
business interests to go about it re.
solved to be fair, that intelligent self
interests demand fairness. If that
might be had Of all concerned, If GU,
tax covenants might be open and
openly arrived at, we could congratu.
late ourselves on being on the high
road to solution Of the problem.