Evening star., 1921-11-19
Editorial Digest
The Tax Outlook.


The tax revision bill has passed
both houses Of Congress and 10 now
In conference, and while. in tho opin-
lon of most American papers, 1t 10
largely "Hobson's choice" as between
tho two measures, neither Of them be-
ing found satisfactory. 1t ia felt that
on the whole the Senate bill Is the
more acceptable. A summary Of SIM
ilarities and differences is given In
the Philadelphia Record independent
democratic) thus:
Both House and Senate voted for a
personal income tax Of 4 per cent up
to $1,000 and 8 per cent above. But
the House bill would limit the surtax
to 30 per cent on incomes OF $66,000.
and the Senate would carry 1t up to
SO per cent on incomes above 100000
The surtax would begin at $1,000 in
the House and $4,000 in the Senate
bill. In both bills transportation
taxes are repealed from January !
next. The corporation income tax is
10 per cent under the present law.
der the Senate bill. Both bills raise
the exemption in the income tax Of
the head Of family from $4,000 to
$2.5OO."
The Senate bill, the Record contin-
ues. would raise nearly half a bill
lion more than the House bill, but
more than $500, 1000. 900 less than the
present law would"
These differences in details are. Of
course. important" the Indianapolis
News independently says, but on the
main principles there seems to be sub
stantial agreement. Therefore the
work of the conference committee
ought not to be dificult nor long
drawn-out." The ''chief hitch" the
Knoxville Sentinel independent dem
ocratic) thinks. will come In adjust
ing the difference "between the Sem
ate surtax maximum rate of so per
cent and the House rate of 80 per
cent" an item on which the House
conferees will have to ask instruction.
In this respect the Chattanooga News
(democratic) regards the Senate bill
as IAN improvement over the House
BILL" and the Lincoln (Neb.) State
Journal (independent republican, re-
marks that ten years ago 1t would
have been esteemed a radical meas
ure." Developing this idea, the st.
Louis Globe-Democrat (republican).
commenting on the surtax and the
increase in corporation income tax
from 12h to Is per cent, as provided
by the Senate. thinks that in the con-
fict over these very important Diff
ferences the House will have the bet
ter of the argument from the stand
point OF the country's welfare. but the
Senate will have the better of it from
the standpoint Of votes" 1t is "a
curious transformation" 1t observes,
that has reversed the traditional po-
sitton of the two houses. the House
becoming the conservative body, while
the Senate, which was established by
the Constitution as conservative
bulwark, has become the popular and
relatively radical division of Con-
gress.'
The Chicago journal (democratic)
has looked for something guide to
say" about the Senate bill and has
found two items: 1t ''abolishes most
and IMPOSES a heavy inheritance
tax on large estates.'' which. the
paper thinks. lis a good feature, in
deed. For the rest. it ranges from
indifferent to bad. with the bad pre-
dominating" In general the Mil
1t mere shuttle OF the cards. few
Increases here and reductions there,
substituting manufacturers tax for
consumers tax. so that the tax
payer won't know he is paying it,"
but practically the whole wartime
tions. the Hartford Times (democratic)
agrees. have been of minor nature"
and the bill is unsatisfactory for the
further reason that lit continues in
practice the evil forms of taxation
against which the public has pro-
tested"
The Senate bill "abolishes all trans
portation taxes from January / next,
the New York Tribune (republican)
notes. which is better than reduc-
mg them by half on that date. as the
House did" The Philadelphia Bull
letin independent republican, points
out "a mark off of $40 year in the
direct federal tax bill of all persons
having a taxable income OF $4,000 or
less" which. together with the abo-
l1tton Of the transportation taxes.
equivalent to an 8 per cent reduc-
tion in railroad fares" and sundry
luxury" and nuisance" taxes, "con-
stttute the benefits of tax reduction
downward, as they will affect the
great majority of people directly"
But even as it stands. reducing "our
tax burdens by three-quarters of
billion dollars a year." the Illinois
State Journal tSpringfield. republi-
CAM fears that the average man In
the street will scarcely know that
anything has been lifted from his
back" The revision. the Oklahoma
City Oklahoman tdemocratic) grants.
income families by increasing their
exemption" but. it adds. affords no
relief to the many small-income in
div1duals who are not heads Of fam
ilies," and, while the bill fails Ito
give needed relief to business and to
small-income individuals, it reduces
the tax on large individual incomes"
a discrimination that many people
will consider unfair"