Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-01-02
PETTY REVENUE
TAXES DIE WITH
NV -
ADVENT Of z
Change Will Be Felt by
Buyer of Rail Ticket
or Mere Lip Stick.
Telegraph and Phones
Still Pay; $40, 900, 900
Loss to Government.
BY HARDEN COLFAx.
rial Corres m pdenf nf Eresf Falls Trih

Copyright. 1922. BY The Great Falls Tribune
Wash hgton, Jan l. = Federal tax
alton changed on the stroke of mid
night Saturday night. The traveller
buying his ticket hereafter no longer
pays the government the S per cent he
has been paying for two years or more.
The man at the soda fountain doesn't
soft drink The woman seeing the
New Year in and dropping into drug
store for a lip stick cosmetic or the
like no longer buys an internal revenue
stamp along with the goods she wants.
The new tax law, eliminating 81
varieties or more of petty exactions by
government tax collectors has gone into
effect. It's operation as regards the
clock along the Atlantic seaboard it
was in effect an hour before it became
effective at Chicago. and three hours
before it was operative on the Pacific
coast. The new tax law. like Father
Time took three hours TO cross the
continent.
Eliminates Many Taxes.
All told the new law eliminates taxes
on many articles and reduces taxes on
still others to an estimated extent of
S425 100000 annually. Joseph $. Nc
Coy, actuary of the treasury depart
ment. estimates that under the new
law the government will collect that
much less in taxes in 1922 than it did
in 1921. The figures do not include
the income tax and the surtaxes whose
effect will not be felt Immediately by
the taxpayer.
Two hundred and seventy million
dollars of the total is represented in
the elimination of so-caiIed transporta-
ton taxes. They are levied no longer.
The tax Of 36 per cent on freight
charges. per cent on express charges,
S per cent on railroad and Pullman
tickets and s per cent on oil pipe lines
all are lifted. Of these the tax on
freight bills yielded the greatest rev
enue in 1921. or about S13S.O0O, 900
Passengers on railroad trains paid
about S91 600. 900 in taxes.
insurance Tax Off.
The 80 per cent additional charge on
Pullman tickets remains. however
That is charge authorized by the in
terstate commerce commission. The
nroceeds go to the railroad companies
and not to the government. There is
no more tax on life. fire, marine. cas-
ualty, burglar and other forms of in
surance.
On life insurance the tax has been
s cents on every 500 of the face of
the policy. On other forms of insur-
ance the tax has been one per cent of
the premium. Twenty million dollars
is thus cut from government revenues.
The 10 per cent tax on ice cream and
soft drinks sold at soda fountains aud
ice cream parlors is eliminated. so is
the 10 per cent on basebalis. bats, ten
mis- racuuets, golf clubs and all other
sporting materials.
The chewing gum manufacturers
who paid tax of per cent on his
product, a tax that was not levied on
retail sales--is relieved Of his levy.
Lifts Fur Tax
The 5 per cent tax on portable cleo
trio fans and thermos bottles also
goes into the discard So does the D
Der cent tax on pianos and other mu-
steal instruments which yielded the
government about S12.00O,W0 in 1921.
. Hereafter the purchaser of fur
coat or neck piece no longer IS taxed
as in the past 10 per cent Of cost of
her purchase. All articles Of fur were
iect to the new tax and the women
who want perfumery, cosmetics. etc.
NAV buy all she can afford without
to pay. as heretofore. for
one cent stamp on each % cents worth
of her purchases. The same relief is
afforded to the reader of patent medi-
cine advertisements who buys the elk
ifs of which he reads. All the propri-
etary medicines and the like go tay
free so far as the retail business is
The tax on parcel post packages is
lifted. Heretofore cent had been
exactcd for each 25 cents or fraction
Cuts Off s2o,oOo,ooo
That change in the, law viii lessen
the governments revenue in 1922 by
$50, 900, 200, Mr.. Mccoy estimates. The
tax on kilograms and telephone calls
remains. The motion picture exhibitor
who leased film had to pay 5 per
cent tax heretofore. Hereafter he will
pay nothing. However, the tax on
tickets remains where the
ticket costs more than 10 cents.
Millions of persons recall, so recent
ly as yesterday, the 10 per cent they
paid when buying goods above GER
tain value. All that has been either
reduced or done away with. There
will be no tax whatever on the follow
ing articles whatever their value: UNI
brellas and parasols; house or smoking
jackets; mems wrist coafawhen sold
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