Evening star., 1923-10-07
When Will Taxes of q. S.. Be Lighter? .
First Stop Treasury Raids, Says Mellon


handed me another list showing the
|'leyiss made ups-to 1927 by'' 'l3g'cities:
will, populations ranging from
. 10000 upward. The increase per
capita between 1912 and 1921. was
not as impressive as in the case OF
.fle amount collected per capita was.
sufficiently startling. The average
was. $34.88, ranging from $lI6s IN
the cities Of Alabama to A.H IN
California, $43.& in Connecticut ana
more chan $4l for twenty-dne cities
in Massachusetts, and eleven cities
in New;York.
"Fhose lists" remarked the secre..
tary, will give you some idea op
how little can be accomplished by
economy in the federal government
if there is not an equal economy IN
the multitude of other governing
bodies which comprise our. govern
ingf system. 1t is idle, however, to
talk about any real economy in gov
ernment until the public stops maxi
ling ifoolish demands on the public
funds and realizes that the only way
such demands can be met is out OF
their own pockets"
There is a great deal of agita-
ton at present over tax-exefnpt Sc
curities," / suggested. "Would the
elimination of such securities ma
terially help the tax situation?'
MIR. Mellon looked thoughtfully at
the end of his cigarette and smiled
little ruefully.
People are always looking for a
panacea," he said, but the elimina-
tion of tax-exempt securities is not
panacea for tax troubles. 1t is
perfectly true that these securities
form a very serious problem and
one which must be solved. but there
''are~too many ways in which super
taxes can be <1egitinately, avoided to
make the rernoVat Of these exenip-
tions a perfeets remedy. = That does
not. mean that the existence of staxr
exempt secufitiesljs not grave evil;
for 'thatsis, precisely what it is. =
4 Unproductfye Taxes. @
The. Secretary abandoned his
Cigarette entirely and went on with
increasing g-earnestffess:
There are, something like $1,000
,0000O .or,spossibly $l1, ,000, ,000. 900 in
taxrexempt securities current at the
present time. aud one result of their
existerfce. is that the super taxes as
-sessed By :.the federal government
afe:steadily becoming unproductive.
That. However, is only one and pos
sibly.the least important effect. Tax
exemption rs something that is re-
pugnant to every principle of the
&, American Constitution. The con-
tinued issuance of such securities
tends.to create class in the COM
Iinunitv which cannot be reached for
ftax purposes, and tf,at means in
lcreasing the burden of taxation on
all other classes. The federal gov
ernment has not issued any such
securities for some years, and hope
il. will never issue any more. They
! are noteonty a menace to our hnan-
ciai 1ystem, but are violation Of
1.-THE very spirit Of American :institu-
ftions."
"How can they be eliminated7"
| Obvious Remedy.
"The simple and obvious way is
Ito adopt a stitutional amend
ment prohibiting them. The House
l3of Representative has supported
such an amendment, and ifapublic
! opinion could be aroased assto, its
fHnpextsnce and necessity no>doubt
it could be pushed through In the
meantime the public, cah help by
frowning on any attempt of their
loca1s officials, to issue any new ex-
emptt securities,
"You see," added the Secretary.
as l rose to take my. leave, 81 am
back to where started-to the peo-
pie. The remedy for excessive tax
alton, like the remedy for every
other defect in our government,
rests with the American public.
When the average citizen is as con-
cerned and as careful about how the
public funds are spent as he is about
spending his private salary we will
not hear any more about govern
nent extravaganza"
Editors note-This Is one OF q series OF
! articles in which some of the most vital
| problems at present before the American
nation are discussed by twelve OF the best
j.. known leaders, Of American industry and
! thought. The next article In this series WIN \
J appear next Sunday.