Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-12-07
Copyright. Western Newspaper Union
THE BURDEN OF TAXES

In the fiscal year ending June 80, 1920,
the first full fiscal year after fighting
stopped, the government spent in
round figures six billion four hundred
million dollars. In the fiscal year 1927,
that is, up to June 80, 1921, 1t spent
! 50, 15,927 ,6S9.3O, and in the fiscal year
of 1922, which will end on June So,
lion dollars, says Secretary Mellon of
the Treasury Department.
These figures include interest Oh the
| public debt which amounts to about
one billion dollars. but include moth
| ing for sinking fund or other debt re-
demption. Including both interest and
sinking fund the government will
spend more Than four times as much
the fiscal year 1922 as it spent yearly
| before the war
These expenditures and these heavy
! charges are a part Of the price of vic
| tory. Your whole present problem Is
To curtail them. II concerns you to
know Just how these immense sums
were gathered and how much you paid
and are paying toward them. for of
course we, the tax payers the men and
women with jobs, the men and women
who have what the census calls gain
full occupations, paid every cent of il.
II was our money until the govern
nent took it,
Let MS examine the fiscal year 1920
] have not the detailed account for
1921, but il was slightly less than the
year previous, as the year ending June
30, 1929, will he slightly less burden
on us than the year preceding. Ac-
cording to Il careful analysis made by
the late DR.. f. +. Rosa, of the United
States bureau of standards, IL govern
ment scientist who was deeply and in
telligently Interested In the subject.
every man, woman and child In this
country contributes an average of
fifty-three dollars in taxes to the sup
port OF the national government Ac-
tually II Is nearer tifty-fOur than fifty
three dollars, but | am taking the
smaller sum for the sake of the round
number. That is, the average family
of five persons pays $265 year out
of its earnings to the federal govern
ment alone, in addition to what is
paid for state county and city taxes.
The estimated average yearly income
of family of five is something more
than 500. But before any of that 500
is spent SGD must be turned over to
the general government to run the
business Of the United States.
The actual amount that each one of
us paid was $53.77. We paid it through
The medium Of internal revenue taxes
and customs duties on imported ar
ticles divided rs follows:
Per
Capita
Income and excess profit. .$37. 20
cigars and tobacco. OFT
Transportation and other utili-
Ties $3.50. observation-disclosures. PIP
Autos, candy, furs, jewelry, etc. 2.52
beverages 1856
Special taxes on capital stock,
etC. .......... ....,.......... 80
hstate inheritance ........... 81
stamps on legal papers. etc. -. 10
Admissions to amuSementS, etc. II
Insurance and miscellaneous. :. Or
Io'al '.'................ .S53.77
The taxpayer is next of kin to the
treasury. AT any rate he Is the first
, person notified when the treasury
needs money, and he always has to dig
| down into his jeans for whatever is
needed. TaXpaying even more than
charity, begins at home The bows
best friend is his mother, but the tax
| payers only friend is himself. The
only thing that can be done for him is
to disclose as wildly as possible how
much his government is costing and
let him decide what he will do about
1t. II all comes down to this: The
more money the government spends
through defective organization or ex-
travagance the less you have to spend
or save.
SO much for the cost of the national
business we support We are all mi
nority stockholders The concern hns
no other source of revenue than our
contributions. 1t doesn't make anv
money. In times ike these, when al
most everybody feels that he gets too
little for what he sells and has to nav
too much for what he buys, 1t seems
to me the least we can do is to take
an active and intelligent interest In
this great common enterprise of ours
and make sure that it is well organ
lied; that ii doesn't waste or spend
eXtraVagantly that the employees are
paid an adequate wage and have
proper working conditions; that their
morale is kept high and their enthu
siasm in our interest unabated in fine.
that as business it shall be conduct
ed as efficiently and economically and
on as modern scientific principles as
any large private business.
Is it?
That is question you must answer
for yourself after have acquainted
you with the actual situation and con-
dltinn.