Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-06-28
Taxes Mount as Living
Standards Are Raised
INCREASE IN TAXES DUE TO
THE HIGH COST OF
LIVING

x
fall with crushing force upon the farm
er and the owner of the modest home.
Business is hampered; the burden is
universal In some section taxes on
farm lands exceed the revenue from
the farms The volume of delinquent
taxes is steadily increasing. We are
paying very high direct taxes, and high
er Indirect taxes, for they enter heav-
lily into the cost of every commodity
Last winter the legislatures of forty
three states assembled, all pledged to
reduce the burden But most of them
added to the load. Why do taxes con
tinue to rise?
The reason is plain. We have built
a big machine Of government, the oper
alton of which requires lot of money
Few are willing to dismantle any part
of it; most people want to add new
parts. Regardless of the cost, they
want more roads, more schools, more
regulation of business more insurance
of individual comfort and happiness.
We are already paying one-seventh OF
our national earnings to support an
finite variety of governmental activi-
ties. But even this great sum, amount
ing to nearly ten billion dollars year
fails to meet the demands of all the
dreamers and reformers.
If taxes are to be reduced, or even
kept from increasing, we must discard
some prevalent notions about govern
ment. We must understand that ma
tional prosperity depends upon the
full use of our wealth producing agen-
cies rather than upon legislation. If
the country would prosper it must con
tinue to build up it's agencies for pro
ducing wealth. Tax money ground
thru the government mill, does not do
this. Taxation is really partial con-
fiscation by the Government, theor-
etorically for the benefit of society at
large. Part of this is a vital benefit
for we must have government to pro-
tect the individual in his personal
rights, to insure legal equality of OPP
portunity and to render needful pub
lie services.
But as we extend government be-
yond these fundamentals we approach
the brink of socialism. We have al,
ready socialized one-fifth of the cor
porate wealth of the country by plae-
ing it largely under governmental
management. This has happened with
in a period of fifteen years. If all in
dustry were socialized there would in
evitably come demand that the Gov
eminent take over the farms.
Many chafe at the slowness in ac-
cumulating wealth, and turn to Gov
eminent and new laws for aid. They
seem to fail to realize that our great
ly bertered standards of living are
due not to experiments in legislation,
but to the increased productive capac-
ity Of the individual on the farm and
in industry, because of mechanical
aids. They fail to see that America
is what it is principally because we
have learned how to use coal and
oil and water power and iron and to
grow bigger crops with less man lab
or.
Another widespread error is the be-
lief that the buck can be passed in
taxation, a belief that is responsible
for much of our tax trouble. In var
ious ways, the effect of every tax is
spread over the entire population re-
CARELESS Of who pays it in the first
place. Direct taxes reappear as indir-
ect taxes, in poorer service or in a
discontinuance of service. Farm ten
ants help pay bond issues in higher
rentals; wage earners pay higher
rents and more for food and clothes
in proportion to the increase in the
tax burden. No one escapes.
All these facts are strikingly pre-
scented in the series of articles by Mr..
Rose that begins in this issue. Gen
eral realization of them is first step
in tax reduction In the meantime it
might be well if more states would
adopt the Indiana plan of giving its
state tax commission power, on the
appeal of group of taxpayers, to
hold public hearings IN the taxing dis
tricts to review bond issues and tax
levies. Then after the vote is taken
and the hurrahing has died down,
both sides must present facts and
arguments to sustain their positions.
This might act as check on public
extravaganza.
Merely grumbling about taxes gets
us nowhere. They are what we pay
for government. If we continue to
want more government, taxes must
continue to climb. The way to solve
the tax problem is to limit the func
lions of government. 1t may mean
the sacrifice of some pet theories OF
social regeneration, but it is the only
way to jam on the brakes. The
Country Gentlemen.
CAUGHT "a POUND MUsKY