Evening star., 1924-01-27
POINCARE TAXATION
PROPOSALS SCORED
Premier Acted Without Careful
Judgment, Writer
Declares.
CASE OF FRANCES FALL
- --
Country Reall. More Prosperous
Than Year Ago.
BY ANDRE TARDlEU.

By Radio to The Star.
PARIS, January 26.-The taxation
Measures introduced by the Poincare
government as a result or the eA-
change crisis are now up for discus
Sion, To many Frenchmen they seem
700 hasty and i'll considered, and un-
.ikelv to accomplish the results
sought
Moreover, it is not pleasant to think
rhat all the nations legislative ma
chinery was set in motion just because
q few Amsterdam spectators SOLD
francs. What happened January IA
now is known. A Dutch group got
Mold Of the francs, which had peen
sent to the French military and civil
6ceupation forces in Germany, and
used them to boost the pound from
40 to 95 ut the opening OF the stock
exchange.
!. .Considering tho fact that the pound
had been steadily climbing 1or -FOUR
Years that sudden squirt should nave
been considered more as an 1ncfoent
ar an accident. Were not measures
to halt the francs fall justified mucn
Earlier Yes. Either such measures
should have been taken long ee.o,., a
6r else the government should nave
declined to be stampeded into lmpro-
yised remedies after one day OF panic.
& country like France can ana muss
handle such matters in cailn aho
orderly way.
Faults or Proposals.
Besides this question of morale.
there is a technical side, namely mat
the proposals. hastily cooked up a1tcf
Two wears of inaction by the Poircare
government, have all the faults on
Improvisation. They bear no relatioh
to any general fiscal plan, ana conti"
dict some of the basic principles or
French policy. In 1922, when the ls3s
budget showed an estimated dencit OF
1000, 100000 francs, the soNethihr.il
deemed new taxes unnecessary. Io
CAV, when the deficit has Disappeared,
owing to q large surplus of yield over
Estimates parliament is asked 10 'o1e
new taxes. 1t is paradoXical.
Furthermore, NJ. Poincare has al
ways insisted that France couiu not
even temporarily pay through taxa
Zion those amounts which, unoer the
treaty, are charged against Germany.
It is astonishing to see him take
contrary course at the very moment
when two expert committees OF the
reparations commission begin work.
VIII Raise Living Costs.
Again it is evident that with less
haste a better plan would have been
found. Simply increasing all taxes
20 per cent is too childishly simple.
II will aggravate all the injusticeS
already existing in taxation and raise
the cost of living. 1nquisitoria1 con-
troll of security holdings will drive
she rich to export their capital and
impose heavy burdens on small hold
mgs. And lastly. by neglecting the
question of the floating debt. 1t ap-
Fears that the government has over
spoked the one essential thing.
Since the ordinary budget Is ball
anced, nothing is easier than the task
of reconstruction by means Of loans.
two conditions are observed-first,
that the floating debt be consoli-
Dated and, second. that the price of
government bonds, which unfor-
tunately has been allowed to fall.
be upheld. These two operations go
hand in hand and would automat-
tcally raise the francs value and
cause living costs to drop.
Too Much Haste.
much of a hurry and let pass the
opportunity to present a really COM
plets program.
sBy allowing itself to be stampeded
by external pressure, the government
las not helped Frances credit In
her budget and reduced military ex-
penditures from eighteen billion
francs in 1919 to five billions in 1924.
Civil expenses have been reduced
x.
while. the public service debt costs
twelve billions on account of the
war and Germany's failure to pay
This is ten and a half billions more
than in 1918, but Is balanced by the
savings above mentioned.
Tax receipts were little over four
billions in 1913. They were twenty
three and half billions in 1928.
Loans are decreasing year by year.
Note circulation has not Increased:
there has even been a slight reduc-
ton. Nothing justified hasty, pan
icky schemes for improving the
franc.
Economic Revival.
And there is Frances economic
gevival. Despite the German devas-
tation, which touched nearly five MIL
hon acres. France Is producing more
wheat than before the war. Her
shipyards produced ten Thousand
tons more in 1922 than in 1913. The
proved and the first nine months Of
1898 exports were only a billion less
tlan imports, which figure is easily
covered by what foreigners have
spent in France. There is no unem-
pioyment. Commerce with the col
ontes is ten billions greater than be-
fore the war, and, finally, the deyas
4ted regions. which could pay only
SIX hundred millions in taxes in 1915.
paid more than two billions in 1sa3
1T Is fair to say that the French
situation warrants proceeding with
sang frofd and ripe reflection in de-
fending the franc. Such measures
would have greater efficaciousness If
tney were accompanied by a con-
structive solution in the political
ne neia a instead OF the negative methods