Pueblo chieftain., 1921-11-17
Taxes That Strangle Industry

In an address that Postmaster General Hays deliv-
cred New York Tuesday evening he said that the
sent system federal taxation penalties thrift and de-
sroys the incentive 1t taxes abstinence from the
consumption of goods and does not tax consumption
Other economic authorities of highest standing have
declared that the present system Of federal taxation
obstrucs the normal and necessary flow of capital thru
industry It discourages investment in industrial enter
prses and cramps the activities of enterprises already
established.
Yet in spite of the ncontestble evils Of the present
SYSTEM the politicians that control national affairs at
Washington subbornly refuse to give the people bet
ter SYSTEM and they base this refusal upon their belief
that the people want the present system continued.
In the stress Of the main purpose of the tax
gatherers to get the money and get it quick They
took the money where it most plentiful and where
it would be most easily discovered, without regard to
the disturbance of business the effect upon the COM
munity whole. And this plan of grabbing as much
as possible of everything sight happened to fall in
with the popular idea that the rich should pay the
and the poor should be allowed go without taxation
And it is still this idea that obstructs the adoption of
sane and scientific plan of taxation which would be for
the benefit Of the entire community.
There are two weak points in this plan Of making
the rich pay all the The first is that it cannot
be done and the second is that in making the attempt
great and unnecessary injury inflicted upon the entire
naton and upon the poor even more thah upon the c
Every kind of taxation tends to equazc itself upon
the entire community If great corporation is taxed
it must pass this extra cost of production along to the
consumer of the things the corporation makes pro-
vides for public If the poor does not taxes
directly to the government, he pays them in rent, or
bills for groceries clothing, any of hundred
channels of daily expenses. II the rich man Is e1ces
sively taxed upon his income he put his into
ta1excmpt securities, and if that exemption is denied
the necessary capital cannot be had for national state
and municipal bonds.
regular supply of capital for replacement and for
new enterprises is indispensable element of industrial
prosperity, and it is the poor that suffers moro
than the rich from interruption Of industrial pros
perty The industrial worker much better afford
to nav few pennies at the grocery store direct
sales tax than he claim exemption from that kind
of tax under a law that works to throw him out OF
employment.
In recent months there has been strong movement
of public sentiment toward the sales tax or production
tax but unfortunately it has not yet become strong
enough to result in needed legislation. The old deuson
OF taxing rich and letting the poor untaxed still
holds its sway public sentiment and the political
congressman properly according to the wishes Of
their constituents.
Under such conditions it does little good to criticize
congress, but great deal of good may be done by
pointing the folly of the present plan and promoting
public sentiment in favor of and scientific tax laws