New Britain herald., 1922-10-18
SPEZLACY TAXES CONGRESS
 70 TASK MW Sl7EZ TOW SPEECH

conIrolleu the TWO legislative branches of the government ever since. That party is entitled to either the credit or censure for all legislation or the lack of 1t.
 The republican party in it's national platform in 1920 said -- But sound policy equally demands the early ac- complishment of that real reduction of the tax burden which may be achieved by substituting simple for complex tax laws and procedure, prompt and certain determination of the tax liability for delay and uncer- tainty tax avs which do not for tax laws which do excessively mulct the consumer or needlessly repress enter prise and thrift We advocate the is- suance of simpliled form of income return" etc.
 1 Now that is a definite, clear, un- derstandabe promise. Has it been kept? Certainly we have not noticed any simplifcations of the form of in come tax returns. l am a lawyer, but l am obliged to employ q certified public accountant to make out my in- come tax returns and, three years after it is in, the government sends someone around to ask me questions about it. Only the other day an in ternal revenue man walked into my office and said he wanted to check up my 1917 return and l asked him if he wouldn't wait until l had been elected senator, and he said he would; so we made an engagement to meet Mo- yember s. =-=
 1 Well, my friends, the best answer as to whether taxes have been re- duced or not can be furnished by you. Have you noticed that you have been relieved of any taxes? Well, if your income is over one million dol lars a year, you have been substan- tially helped by the bill that was passed. You no longer per 65 per cent of your income, but only 50 per cent However most of us worry along on less than million dollar in- comes, Senator Gerry, democrat, of Rhode Island, tried to reduce the rates on incomes of less than s5,000 to two per cent instead of four per cent, but the republicans would have none of that, any more than they would reduce the rate from eight to ! four per cent on incomes in excess { of s5,000, but less than s10,000. In- stead, they granted an additional ex- emption of $500. The republican aiority increased the tax on the small corporations of the country They did repeal the excess profit tax, but there were no longer any excess profits.
 There is only one way to reduce taxation, It is to reduce expendi- lures. Economy has been preached, but seldom practiced. If ever it were needed, it is now Our people cannot prosper, if we continue, in times of peace, to exact taxes only justified during times of war. Why is discoh- tent abroad in the land? One req son is taxes. Either directly or in- stead of retrenchment, President Harding proposes to call spe- cial session of congress after the election to pass a ship subsidy bill that will annually take mill lions from the treasury. It is your money, contributed by your industry and frugality Every one of you pays The government income is your taxes. Every penny is con- trlbuted by the people of the United States. The American people do not [ desire increased taxation; they do want [ to hold the party in power to their platform promises. We are entitled to economy and reduction of our tax burden.
 Then the tariff adds to our cost of living something between three and | four billions a year. The United States will get less than four hundred mil lions of this. How many of us, al- ready troubled with the problem of making both ends meet, can afford substantial increase in the cost of iv- ling and the increase has only started. 1 The federal reserve banks state the cost of living has incrased 16 per cent lsince last July. This increase is due solely to the Fordney- McCumber tariff.
 Then they passed the Vostead act 1 believe it should be amended and modified. However, for present pur- poses. l am not entering into dis cussion of that phase. According to the Wall Street Journal our loss of revenue due to this act has been s1,- 722, 2,000,000 since 1919. In the mean time, Canada is paying off her war debt with the revenue derived from
 liquor smuggled into the United States. We get the liquor, Can ada gets the revenue. To allow the manufacture and sale of a beer that would be, in fact, non -in- toXicating, would furnish us with rev enue sufficient to relieve us from the burden of many unjust taxes and simultaneously remove one Of the chief causes of public irritation in the United States.
 At present we have whiskey, good and bad. and the rich may get if if they want. This is un-American What kind of whiskey we are getting may be judged from the fact that wood alcohol exported from Canada to the United States increased from 92o gallons in 1919 to 1aS,022 gallons in 1921 and that is what the official government records disclose. No one can state the amount smuggled in, either of alcohol or any other intoxi- cant.