The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-17
THE PROPOSED SALES TAX.


H. C. Mckenzie, of Walton, N. Y.
chairman of the taxation committee o
the federated farm bureaus, told tbs
members of the board of agriculture
and the delegates to the meeting tha'
the proposed gross sales tax which il
being advocated is fundamentally un,
sound" because it would either be
passed on to the ultimate consumer OF
paid by the producer, in which case II
does not bear any relation to thu
amount of the income of the person
who pays it, and would work an in
justice.
Mr.. Mckenzie's contention loses
that all taxes, in whatever form levied
are paid ultimately by the consumer
1t is doubtful that any form of taxa
ton could be found that would prove
less burdensome than a tax on sales
Experts have been making compu-
tation on the effect of this sort of tax
They find that a levy of 1 per cent on
wheat from producer to consumer
thru the mills. the flour. dealers and
the bakers, would add but a fraction
of cent to the cost of a loaf of bread
They find that a similar levy on a
steer or a hog from producer, thru the
packing house and butcher shop
would add but a fraction of cent to
the cost of pound of meat.
Seventeen years ago sales tax law
was enacted in the Philippines. That
law is still being successfully admins
tered in the islands and is the biggest
revenue producing item.
Six months ago Canada and France
in rapid succession enacted sales tax
laws similar in all essentials to the
Philippines law. The Canadian and
French laws continue to work to the
satisfaction of the people of those
countries.
Over thirty years ago Mexico. under
Diaz and his secretary of the treasury,
the successful operation of which
made it possible for that country to
liquidate its heavy foreign and domes-
tic obligations and~to achieve the
prosperity it enjoyed for many years.
The Philippine government has sent
to the secretary of the treasury in
Washington a report to the effect that
the Philippines sales tax is the most
productive. accurate, satisfactory and
equitable tax they have, that its adj
is not expensive and that
it produces no public complaint; that
the rate had been increased several
years ago from one-third of l per cent
to per cent and that Notwithstanding
a criticism that some commodities
paid the tax more than once, the Phil
ippine government had under con-
a plan again to increase
the tax rate, this time from i per cent
to per cent.
The American people are already
well acquainted with the sales tax
principle, but under another name
They have been paying consumption
taxes-which have been accumulated
and shifted to the ultimate consumer
for so many years that the majority
ing them because they do not remem-
bed when they did otherwise. Refer
ence is made to imported commodities
paying customs duties and to manufac-
turers of tobacco and other articles
paying excise taxes.
The immense potential productivity
of a general sales tax in this country
cannot be doubted. 1t has been esti-
mated at anywhere from two to six
billion dollars per annum. according
to the varying amounts suggested for
the tax rate and the limitations placed
on the incidence of the tax. in the
various estimates made as to its pro-
ductivity. 1t is the one biggest and
safest revenue producing reservoir so
far untapped in this country, and
would supply the much needed addi-
tional revenues.
Its adoption, when its simple, equit-
able and satisfactory operation and re-
suits are once understood, would in
spire more public confidence than
would any possible hash or rehash of
the existing tax items which in the
past and up to the present have SO
harassed the American taxpaying
public.