Evening star., 1924-03-01
SENATE REVISION
OF TAX BILL seen
Administration Hopes for
Vastly Improved Measure
Over That of House.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The administration tax bill now
goes from the frying pan into the
fire. Too many cooks--an unwieldy
House of Representatives - spoiled
the Mellon plan, and the measure
which now goes to the Senate is so
SCARED and burned that nobody can
claim II is satisfactory as 1t stands.
Both republicans and democrats, as
well as President Coolidge and Sec
retary Mellon expect a better bill to
J come out of the Senate.
But the Senate is bound to tear the
whole tax bill to pieces and rewrite
the House measure. The temporary
coalition between the insurgent re-
publicans and the democrats did not
succeed in passing the plan offered
! by Representative Garner, democrat,
OF Texas, but it did succeed in de-
Leating the Mellon schedule of rates.
The difference between the Garner
, plan and that which was finally
adopted by the House on the sus-
Stion of Representative Longworth
OF ohio. republican leader, is not very
substantial. In principle. the Long
worth plan is much the same as the
| Garncr proposal, because both ignoI e
the argument OF Secretary Mellon to
tHt tlltct tnat HlSn SurtaStS are
avoided and cannot te collected
ON reaching the higher incomes
respectfully over 0,000--there is only
a slleht difference in the effect of a
5'ie per cent SurtaN presented by Mr..
iLonSworth as compared with a a. per
cent surtaX proposed by Mr.. Garner.
tIhf argument of the Treasury De-
partmcnt has been that not until sur
/ taxes have been reduced to approXi-
lnat"!y 70 per cent viii the large in
Y ~, ...T.
icurltltS-to taxable Investments
Veto Not Surprising.
! Th" republicans in the house have
adopted Il bill which contradirts the
Mellon principle and. Judging by the
informal assertions from the White
; House, this is such a material change
that 4 presidential veto would not he
this time is not considered discreet.
for the administration hopes to rally
us forces in the Senate and push the
isurtaA rate down from 81. per cent,
at least as far as 80 per cent.
The democrats, on the other hand
! Wlh wage their fight for the Garner
pian. which has been adopted more.
or less as the democratic progran
IN" inSurGent republicans in the
senate. are not as quick to WELD as
were tae insurgents in the House, and
the western senators, who VIII join
lle democrats, are not as easily in
| undated or as likely 10 be disturb
: Ell whether the tax bill as passed by
! the Senate bears a Democratic or :,
republican label
!. The House republican leaders made
! ih"lr compromise and won over the
InSurs ent republicans on the plea
tnat the bill going through the House
should bear republican label so
that the country would not hay, the
impression of republican disunIty To
! gam that point the republican lead =
trs sacrificed the Mellon plan and the
administration acQuieSced largely in
the hop. that the Senate would re-,
: write the bill The fight has lust he
gun. Many OF the insursent repubIi-
can senators who will desert their
party proposal are not up for re-
eiettion TINS autumn. IS are all MEM
bers OF the House. and therefore the
influence OF party regularity is not .s
strong.
Democrat Break Is Hope.
Ihe only hope for surtax rate.
lower than that passed by the Uous..
| Hes IN the possibility OF 4 break in the
ranks of the democrats Tn, same
nope was fndulged by the adminislra-
tlon IN the House, but the democrats
stood unwaferingly by the Garner
plan. Judging by the speeches which
nave been made in the Senate thus
lar, there is tendency to support
The Garner plan among the demo
/. Gratis, and no democratic senator has
as Yet declared himself for the Mel
Ion rates. The Senate finance com
mittee. of course, will hold extensive
hearings, there will be prolonged de-
pate. and when the bill finally
emerses from the Senate for confer
ence between the houses it will be a
radically different bill. from that
which has just passed the House
l. Ih.n Will come protracted discus
sionS in the conference in an attempt
to reach II compromise once more and
tl'resident Coolidge will be finally
presented with a bill. the rates in
which il is Impossible at this mo-
.inent 70 forecast because they will be
inserted as "a result uf continuous
compromise
| Mr.. Coolidge will veto the bill then
, only if he thinks that by doing so
he car force Congress to amend the
measure still further. The chances
are it will he midsummer before the
president VIII have Il tax bill before
him and II NAV be after the election
before the iis,i. is conclud ID. espe-
cially if MIR. Coolidge sends the bill
back to Congress Tor further consid-
Grafton.