New Britain herald., 1923-02-10

Wellesley Hills. Mass Feh. i0.- .When will taxes be redueedF"
 The problem is uppeFmpsi in the mind of the American business man and investor as he figures his report for iase
 ToNget the answer Roger ", Bahr son, slatisiician has spent a week m Washington studying the tax situar ton. His first hand findings and ah' biased report is of vital interest,
 Future taxes" says Mir babson' .depend. in part. upon future expenF ditures. The figures for the past year on this score. at least. are very hope ful. Whatever criticism may be made of the present administration | mus, be admitted that it has exerted a cons tinuous effort to reduce expenditures An honest attempt is being made to introduce and operate budget sys- tenn, At the conference of bureau chiefs held recently at the continen- tal Memorial hall, sonfe 600 men met to affect further economy in the op- eration Of the government business
 .,Fixed charges interest rates. and previous obligations. of course, cannot be changed and in spite Of the splen. did work done to cut down current expenditures, the expenses of the gov ernment for 1922 reached total of sa,7sb,302,4as.s0. Nearly one billion Of this amount was paid out as inter est on the ppblic debts such as Lib- erty bonds and other outstanding se- curities in the United States; s26s.- 500, 1000 was used in pensions to sol- diers, or their dependents. Of the War of 1872, Mexican War. Indian Wars. Civil War and Spanish American War. while SI50, 0,000, 1000 was paid for com pensations, care and training of vet erans of the World War. Approxi- mateiy Sl55. 100000 went for the army and s475.ooo,0oo for the navy. About 50 per cent of our total ex- penditures go to the payment of in- terest, sinking funds, pensions and the relief to veterans.
 During the fiscal year of 1922, the government collected s4,10s.1o4,1bo.- s4. Present prospects, however, indi- cate that no such amount will be col Iected in 1923. The excess profits tax has been removed and general busi- ness is not as prosperous, and there. fore will not yield as much in taxes as in previous years. To meet this situation, President Harding has ear nestly requested that expenditures be cut by $92,oo0,o0o more.
 If we look at the United States government as we would corpora ton, there is no cause for alarm. Ex- penses have increased to be sure, bu, expenses have increased in all busi- nesses. On January 1st. 1923. we had in the United States, in gold $3,93S,- 475.615, about 45 per cent of all the gold in the world. Of this. over three and one-ouarter billion Is held in the treasury, mostly in the form of bull lion. If we look at the ledgers, we find that $500, ,0o0 tax payers and 1o1,30o corporations contributed $2,. 0ss,12s,192.6s. in 1922. While onl, $356,443,3s7.1S was received from customs and duties.
 Further study indicates that tht problem during the next few years il not one of trying to decrease tht present budget, but rather of trying to hold it where it is and keep i from going much higher.
 Unless a miracle happens, some sort of bonus bill will be passed 1T 1924. If not passed with the presi- dents consent it will probably he passed, over his veto. This will cal for huge additional sum of money Then {here is tremendous road building program, the proposed na' tionalization,scf coal mines and the demands upon the treasury by tho farmer bloc.
 "when talked with financiers re. garding possible measures of taxatior to meet these additional expenditures and proposed increase in our nationa budget, the suggestions are as fol lows:
 IA sales tax. "A tax on ligh' beer and wines. 3-Further- custom. and internal revenues. 4-Collectinf from Europe the 1o,oooooo,ooo owed us and 5-The restoration of the ex cess profits tax.
 'The keener students of taxes al most universally recommend the sale: tax, but politically there seems to bt little chance of the new congress put ting it through. tax on l1ght peer: and wines at the present time is cer tainly out of the question. Both GUS tom and internal revenue taxes are as high as the public can stand. Hence by the process of elimination the poll tical leaders strenuously refuse tr cancel the European debt for fear O the reenactment of the excess profits tax.
 Their fear in this regard is wei founded not from a purely selfsf point of view on the business mai who must pay such a tax, but becaus, of its effect on the prosperity of tn, whole country. The reenactment O such a tax would be distinct setbacl to every one. Natural resources available labor. nor even capital, i sufficient to make country prosper ous. Russia is rich in natural re sources. Africa abounds in availabl,