The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-11-16
Stun in Income Tax Due to
Payment Of Big Fed
eral Taxes.
LOSS Is EXPLAINED
Leaders of Industry Insist Peo-
pie Should Not Have the
Wrong Idea.

Kenosha corporations were not with
out ipcomes in the year 1921, regard
less Of thetfaet that the state return
for income taxes indicates that the
total to be paid by these organiza-
tions in Kenosha is less than fifteen
thousand dollars. Kenosl. income
taxes for corporations were cut to the
quick this year on account of the tre-
mendous amount collected from the
corporations by the United States
Government in the previous year and
which were properly deductible from
the earnings Ia 1921.
"It is unfair for the people of Ke-
nosha to think that the returns of
Kenosha industrial corporations to the
state for the year 1921 showed that
these companies had not earned
profit" said one of the leaders of
the Industrial life of the city this
morning. II believe that the state
should have issued something to show
Just how this condition came about
in order that the people of big indus
trial centers may not be suspicious of
the industrial companies"
Not ,Dodging Any Taxes.
"These organizations are not dodg-
ing any taxes but under the ruling of
the Wisconsin Tax commission in the
question of deduction of federal taxes
paid the earnings of the great COM
panies were wiped out. | have in mind
one Kenosha corporation in 1921, the
period covered by this tax had net
profits Of two and quarter million
dollnrs. However, in the year 1920
that same corporation paid to the Fed
eral government an income tax in ex-
cess of four million dollars. Under
the ruling of the Wisconsin Tax COM
mission this payment to the federal
government was deductible The, com
mission held that accrued taxes could
not be deducted but that the tax pay
err could deduct from his earnings the
exact amount which was paid to the
federal government. This is of course
in keeping with the provisions of the
Wisconsin law 1t is my belief that
practically all of the incorporated COM
panies of Kenosha had some earnings
in 1921 but the total of these earn
ings did not in any way approach the
amounts which Isd been paid as fed
eral taxes in the previous year. This
fact should be stated clearly to the
people of the city that they may know
just why the names of these corpora
tions are not included on the income
tax roll this year"
Serious Thought for SolOns.
The elimination of the corporation
income tax and great reduction in
the amount to be paid for individual
income taxes this year is bringing a
serious problem to be met by the city
solons. 1t is not improbable that the
budget for the coming year will have
to be sharply pruned if the city coun-
Gil is able to get away without pro-
viding for an increase in the taxes
The loss of the income tax collected
last year would mean the loss of from
five to six mills on all of the tax
able property Of the city and of course
some provisions must be made to make
up this amount of money. There is
but one way and that is to add it to
the total to be levied in the mill tax.
The other alternative is to prune the
expenses of the city so that they may
be reduced to meet the reduction in
actual cash to be received by the city
The fact that the city now has bal
ance Of several hundred thousand dol
lars in the banks of the city may
make it possible for the council to
get away with the budget for next
year without increasing the mill levy.
r6 btst 80 ENS