Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1924-03-12
ANOTHER TAX EXEMPT
FAILURE

aid the public is given in re-
cent article by Bruce Blivins, a
we'll known newspaper COM
mentator, writing in the New
Republic, when he says that
private enterprise in t h e
building trade has broken down
in New York. The recent re-
construction. he says, is all
for the well-to-do minority. The
rest of the people stay in old
houses, pay more rent then they
can afford, and suffer serious
ly from other consequent con-
ditions."
Tax exemption is subsidy -
paid out of the pockets of the
people. There is so much mon
ey that must be raised for gov
ermental expense. There is so
much wealth on which to raise
this money. We exempt a part
of our national wealth and
what's left must bear all the
burden. That's what tax ex-
emption means.
And yet, in the face of this
huge subsidy to private industry
achieves a colossal failure so
far as the public is concerned,
as Mr.. Bivins points out when
he says:
GAS a newspaperman | had a
good deal to do with the adop-
tionl of tax exemption. then
believed, as everyone believed,
that the saving in taxes, amount
ing to one-third of the total cost
Of every $4,000 apartment,
would cause such rush of build
ing that the shortage of 100000
homes would be ended and rents
would fall.
81 was wrong. We were all
wrong. A rush of building fol-
lowed, it is ue-coinciding with
similar rush all over the coun-
try, in cities without tax ex-
emption as well as those with it.
Hundreds of new apartment
houses were built in outlying sec
tions such as the Bronx. These
apartments are uniformly and
hideously ugly. They are of
cheap and flashy construction.
The rooms are small and many
are badly ventilated and lighted
despite the high prices they
bring. The exemption law put
millions of dollars into the build
ers' pockets and took away mil
lions from other taxpayers, who
were forced to carry the load;
but not a cent was passed on to
the tenants, who were the pri-
mary object of our concern.
These new apartments were all
rented, promptly, to people who
could afford (or at least, We're
able) to pay not less than SIS a
room month. In most cases it
is $40 a room a month. Yet
even the lower figure is beyond
the average mans reach"
Tax exempt securities are re-
sponsible for an economic stu
alton in this country that is any
thing but encouraging. Enor-
nous wealth is tied up in these
securities, not a dollar of which
is bearing its share of the nation
al tax burden.
That's one reason the Times
Recorder favored lower sur
taxes, lower than the Democrat
ic leaders in the House were
willing to accede.
Lower sur-tax rates would
place millions of dollars into in
dustry-into production-mak-
ing capital available for railroad
expansion, factory construction,
and other investments that pro-
vide work for our people, such
as the building of homes and
apartments, thus lowering the
enormous rents that prevail in
the larger cities particularly.
The Atlanta Constitution says:
''The whole system of tax ex-
emption is wrong. 1t is more de-
structive than constructive; and
if the vast fortunes now invest
ed in these securities could, even
to small degree. be turned in
to productive industry, what a
difference it could make in the
economic conditions of this
countryp'
The failure of high surfaces
to produce revenue is ably
pointed out by Andrew Mellon,
secretary of the treasury, in an
article in The Forum, when he
said:
"During the war the govern
ment developed a system of sur
taxes which were designed to
make the man of large income
pay more proportionately than