The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-17
TAXES FROM A NATIONAL STANDPOINT

Of interest to taxpayers of Montana is a recent article
in The Nations Business, written by Lewis p. Pierson,
chairman of the board, Irving Bank-COumbia Trust Com
pany of New York, Of which the following is an abstract:
It is estimated that the national income-the combin-
ed earnings of the entire cOuntry-amOunts to about $685.
OOO 900. 900 a wear. Out of that 58-billion-dOllar income,
the American public is being asked to contribute more
than seven billion dollars to maintain its national, state
and local governments. Out of every hundred dollars
that an American earns, he must, therefore, pay IL dol
lars to some government official before he can buy any
thing for himself or his family.
According to the official figures, there are Al, 100000
people il. the United States who are above the age of 16
and who are employed in some ganful occupation and
who therefore represent the nations earning power. Since
the year 1923 the federal, state and local governments
have added $27, 900, 900, 900 to their debt, thus making a
total government debt in the United States Of $32,0O0,-
100000. This misunderstanding that the burden of debt
and taxation can be evenly distributed-that every work
man, every stenOgrapher, every clerk and every mechanic
in the country is in debt for his governmnt to the extent Of
$787. This obligation must be paid through taxes.
In the business communities Of the United States
there is a profound sentiment for immediate tax redUc-|
ton. The business men who understand the full import
of a $32, 600, 600, 600 debt and a yearly tax of bill of ST.
0O0,00 600 recognize the menace to prosperity which
these huge figures represent. 1t is not the business man
alone who demands tax reduction. The farmer, the work
man, the clerk and the mechanic are beginning to under
stand that taxes play a considerable part in the high cost
of living. Somewhere and somehow every dollar OF the
ST, 900, 900 we pay each year in taxes tends to increase
the price of the commodities Of commerce and is conse-
quently reflected in living costs.
Let us suppose that, from causes we cannot now define,
the United States should begin to fall from its present
prosperous state into a continued period of depression
and hard times. Let us further suppose that the National
Government failed to economic and continued or in
creased the present high rate Of taxation. We know that
during the brief period of depression in 1921 u%nemplOy-
ment rapidly increased and federal income taxes were in
a vast number of cases paid out of borrowings or past saw
ings instead out Of current earnings. We know that there
were thousands of instances where the amount OF the fed
eral income tax meant the difference between profit and
loss. Our experience shows, therefore, that reduction
in taxes represents, according to the amount of the reduc-
ton, insurance against unemployment, and that the more
taxation increases the greater possibility there is for slow
ing down industry and Of throwing men out of work.
The American people will mark and remember those
representatives who indicate by their action on tax re-
duction plans that they think more of fancied political
advantage than they do of national prosperity.