The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-15
BURDEN OF TAX
MUST BE LIFTED
FROM BUSINESS
Harding's Position Is
Made Clear To
Congress.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright, 1921
(SpeciaI m The Arpus

washington, July 15.-President
Harding has made it clear to the
Republican leaders in congress that
he wants a tax program adopted
| which will lift restraint from bust
| ness initiative. He is not commit
ted to sales tax, but is inclined to
believe that tax on production at
the source can be imposed without
! adding to the burden of business.
While the tax program is in en-
bryo condition, certain funda-
mentals are practically agreed
upon. For instance, business men
everywhere have been imagining
that with the repeal of the excess
profit tax, the government would
be obliged to increase materially
the corporation taxes. The aim OF
the Harding administration, how
ever, is to avoid any increase of
corporation taxes, if possible, and
only to impose a slight addition in
corporation taxes if necessary.
There is, indeed, no thought of max
ing the corporation taxes a subsu-
tute for the excess profit tax.
Good News for Business.
This decision ought to be good
news to the business men of the
country who have been worried
over the prospects of a greatly in
creased corporation tax President
Harding, however, feels that the
revival of business in America is
, at this time paramount considera-
ton, and that nothing should be
placed in the way of business in
centiye. The repeal of the excess
profit tax is a foregone conclusion,
and it is certain that the next reve-
nue. bill will not attempt to make
the business and industries of the
country carry the bulk of the load.
Instead, the tax burden will be
more evenly distributed by the use
of every sort of stamp tax. The
three cent letter postage may come
back, and it seems assured that
revenue stamps will be necessary
on practically every kind of bust
ness transaction, from bank checks
and drafts to real estate papers and
other documents of purchase and
sale. While these small taxes may
prove annoying and inconvenient,
the feeling is that such annoyance
is hardly to be compared with the
burden hitherto carried by business
as whole. Taxes at best are dis
agreeable, but the governments job
this time is to distribute them in
such fashion as to stimulate a bust
ness revival.
Tax on Production.
The tax on production is favored
as a substitute for the sales tax,
because it will not be so difficult
to collect and will not be paid sew
eral times as goods pass from pro-
ducer to consumer. The exact
form of this production tax has not
yet been determined, but the idea
appears to be to impose the tax on
the output of commodities very
much as the present tax on auto
mobiles is covered. In such cases,
the manufacturer will pass on the
payment of the tax to the con-
sumner, as happens with automo-
biles, but in the sales tax proposal
the chances were that more than
one tax would be imposed on the
same article as it passed to var
ious stages.
The progress of the tax program
70 SAPCSISu " NC uofS ioPAo oAtSi
the house finishes with the perma-
nent tariff bill. Indeed, it is the
administrations. plan to have the
senate sidetrack the tariff bill,
when it gets to the senate, by hav-
ing lengthy committee hearings. The
revenue bill agreed upon by Repub-
lican leaders will also be intro
duced in the senate and referred to
committee while it is being dis
cussed in the house. 1t will mean
that the tax bill will come out of
the senate finance committee ahead
of this tariff, and probably will be
passed before the tariff bill is de-
bated. The hope now is that both
the tax and the tariff bills will be
out Of the way by Oct l.