The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-12-28
State and Local Extravagances Offset
Federal economies

per cent OF the total tonnage Oh RAN
way trahc, nevertheless the value o.
III the mines and metailurgIcal works
$ but a trIihng percentage Oh the
value OF the aggregated national
health. and, furthermore. the mInlns
Industry employs but one million o.
OF the ~ million workers OF the coun-
try.
Ot the total taxes paid by corporate
enterprises 10 state ana local govern
Llents IN 1870, amounting TO $3.50,
90, Iys, mining corporations pad i4
Ter cent. Or the total corporate in
Come and excess pronts taxes paid t.
the federal government in 1921,
amounting to Sl,62o,2S4,o4S, mining
Companies paid 1914 per cent. Ii tne
same ratios prevail in the case Of tn,
taXes paid by individuals interested
in mining, the mining industry is pay
Ing vastly more than its share of taxes
comparison with the ratio OF MIN
eral wealth to the total national
v ealth.
Total of Corporate Wealth.
The total value of corporate invest
nents and holdings is said to be is
billion dollars. This is 25 per cent o.
he total national wealth as estimated
~ DR.. Ingalls-undoubtedly a very
conservative estimate. State and 10
al taxes in 1920 aggregated at least
billion dollars, of which corporate
Enterprises paid approximately 40 per
cent. Federal income and profits taxes
to 81 billion. out of which
enterprises paid over SO per
cent. These figures indicate that al
though corporate wealth constitutes |
but % per cent of the total national |
wealth. corporate enterprises are bear
ng nearly 80 per cent of the major tax !
burdens. This should refute those |
of radical propagandists /
that corporations are escaping taxa
lion.
If the debt-incurring. tax-levying
money spending agencies of state and
ocal governments continue to issue
AK exempt bonds, exact discrimina-
DRY tax levies and dissipate public
unds without restraint and without
egard for the welfare of the industry
II class Disseminated against, an eco
ionic political upheaval is certain to
esult The hazard is great and the
ation should be aroused before it is
90 late to apply a remedy
The Prevailing Tendency. c
The tendency to pile up the public d
ebt by issuing tax free bonds to fin In
nee every sort of public enterprise, c
imply because an easy market is II
ound for this class of securities, is [
fundamentally wrong. The tendency Il
D broaden governmental functions to [
mbrace new activities, resulting in t
he creation and maintenance of new s
cards. commissions and other tax n
onsuming agencies to carry out these l.
experiments, is opposed to the princi- /
les of economy which should govern L
! the expenditure of public funds. S
There has been a noticeable reduc- t
on in the annual expenses of the fed hi
raj government since the war; but la
lese expenses must of necessity, re I
lain for the next quarter of a century c
an amount nearly four times great
r than the pre-war level. Fixed obi
atoms, such as interest on the public
ebt, compensation and other benefits .
} disabled soldiers, and salaries of
lie large personnel necessary to the =
fective administration of govern
entail business, must be met.
AS the affairs of the national gov ~
become stabilized, income O'
xation at the present rates will not ~
lpose a serious hardship on business
'nerally, although it is believed that -
further reduction of the surtax rates 81
individual incomes would have
effect. -.
The real menace, however to ma y,
NAL prosperity lies in the unre- ~
rained tendencies Of state and local a.
vernments toward extravaganza in -, -
bic expenditures and discriminatory ie
xation of particular industries to ="
y for this extravaganza.
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