Evening star., 1924-01-28
The Tax-Reduction Bill.

1t begins to look as if the House
! committee on ways and means will not
be able to present a taX-reduction bill
! that will command a majority vote in
| the House. Owing TO the recent change
| of rules forced by the coalition OF
! democrats and progressive republicans
| it will be possible to offer amendments
| from the floor after the bill is report
| ed. There Is, therefore. i prospect
that the bill will he actually framed
| in the House instead of in committee.
and that it will be a compromise. pos
| sibly an unworkable patchwork OF
odds and ends of proposals.
II is customary in such situation
to look to the Senate and to the con7
ference between the houses for the
final shaping Of the bill. Whether con-
| ditions in the Senate are more favora-
! bic 10 the adoption of bill along the
| line Of the administration recon-
mendations is not assured. The rules
| there, however. are less conducive to
| hit-and-nliss methods of bill framing
| than they are at present in the House.
! If there is a ma jOrity for the Mellon
| plan that measure may be adopted as
a substitute for whatever the House
sends over. thus throwing the final
| shaping of the bill into the conference.
| where, as fact, many important
pieces of legislation are given their
ultimate form.
The country expects a material tax
| reduction. 1t looks for a reduction
equal to that estimated by Secretary
Mellon, approximately 1923 100000.
! The average taxpayer looks. Of course.
! at the matter from his own point of
view. If he is a small taxpayer he
i hopes to see the greater part of the
reduction come from that end of the
line. If he is a large taxpayer he
hopes for a proporUorate reduction
from the upper end q .he scale. Politi-
| in a reduction plar that makes the
greatest saving to Che taxpayers in
I the lower scales.
But there are other considerations
than political in the matter. The Sec
retary OF the Treasury has pointed
out that not only equity but economic
1 wisdom demands reduction of the sur
| taxes as well as of the lower income
| taxes, that it is vital to the country
{ to turn into currents of investment
money now taken in surtaxes and not
| needed for administration. Moreover,
| il is pointed out that from the point
| of view Of revenue production lower
ing Of the surtaxes is likely to yield
d greater volume than under the
! higher scale. This is not paradoxical.
With lower scale approximately full
collections may be expected, and the
usufruct in collections that hitherto
have escaped from the government
through concealments or through in
vestment in tax.exempt securities in a
large measure offsets some of the
losses from reductions in the medium
scales.
The country is better informed on
! this subject than it was two or three
months ago. The lively controversy
over the question stimulated by the
approach of a political campaign has
been educational in it's effct. People
know more about the income tax prob
lem than they ever did before. So that
when the House debates and possibly
commends the bill offered by the ways
and means committee it's course will
be followed with an intelligent interest
! by the people in the states. If there
is a failure to enact a tax-reduction
| law that effects considerable saving,
that is equitable to all classes Of tax
| payers, and that assures the release of
! funds for improvement. investments
and industrial expansion and develop
i ment, and at the same time assures a
minimum of loss through conceal.
ments. those responsible will be visit.
ed with punishment.