The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-07-02
CONCERNING TAXES.

The wry faces we make when we
pay taxes reflect a subconscious mem
DRY of the days when taxes We're paid
for tribute and not for value, says
bulletin from the American Exchange
National bank. Many of us still re-
gard the taxes we pay as a form of
tribute and many another of US never
stops to think why he pays taxes. Feel
ing that we are paying tribute, or Civ
ing into common fund the purpose
of which is mystery to most Of US, we
are ali willing to shift the burden, to
let the tax collector get the money
needed from whomever he may, so long
as he leaves us alone. In the olden
days taxes were used for the private
wars of rulers, or for their personal
comfort, and the common man paid fis
tribute to power and received very
little even in the way of protection"
He did benefit, of course, even then,
but the benefits were negative, things
averted of whose existence he never
dreamed, and 1t was not strange that
he should grow tired of paying for
things that, so far as he was con-
cerned, did not exist. Today we can
visualize our benefits more clearly; we
system, to our sanitary controls, and
to our army and navy, which are only
other arms Of our police system. Ac-
cording to our theory of government,
these are the only functions of govern
ment for which any of us is willing to
pay; when called on to pay money for
things beyond these, all of US hesitate
call for an accounting. Outside of
these functions, government is unpro-
ductive and its servants parasitical.
But the police power" of government
covers wide field-it can be stretched
to include education, discovery, good
roadside highways have always been
state controlled, their control having
come out OF the necessity of protecting
travellers against robbers and mar
experiment, conser-
walton Of natural resources and hum
dreds of related things. There is a
very distinct line between these func- /
tions and the functions of production,
which lie wholly within the province
Of the citizen and outside the domain
Of the government. Government func-
tons are protective or helpful; they
guard the worker at his labors and !
teach him to increase his productivity. |
but they do not carry the government
into the field in competition with it's
citizens. These things are valuable
and worth what they cost, but from the
standpoint of cost they must be fig
ured into the overhead. Despite their
value. they can become burdensoIne,
too costly for the product. more than
the traffic will bear, but when we
know what we are getting for our I
money, we are at least willing to pay /
what we can afford, willingly and /
cheerfully. The question of at what |
point the cost shall be deducted be-
comes more of . question of sound |
business accounting than q question of |
the burden of the tax. OF I
course. even now the individual seeks /
to shift the burden, but that Is not /
important in considering the tax prob /
lem from the standpoint of sound /
economic policy. The best tax is the /
tax that win least interfere with the
attainment of the ultimate economic
goal That goal is to be reached soon
est, in our opinion, by denying our
selves, by saving for the purpose of
productive machinery and /
tools. That IS tho hard way; the way
Of the fathers and the founders. and I
i calls for the payment ~ taxes from
present income and not from. future
income.